Facing The Past
by IHeartSonAmy
Summary: When a young prince runs away from home, his evil half-uncle takes over as king. But when an old friend persuades him to return, will he? And will their friendship blossom into something more? Based on The Lion King
1. Looking For Trouble

Hi guys ^_^ I absolutely love The Lion King. So this is my weird take on it with the Sonic characters. It is a little different from the original plot of Lion King, with it being set in a different place and all. Some of the characters are in...slightly odd roles, but hopefully it'll work out.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Sonic characters or the Lion King.

The ages are Sonic – 7, Tails – 5, Amy – 6, Knuckles – 8, Rouge – 8, Espio – 7, Cream – 3,

Looking For Trouble

A purple hedgehog sat sifting through a bunch of papers, getting slightly irritated by the amount she had to read and sign. She frowned slightly as she looked at the time, she'd only been in the room for an hour and already she was bored of all the paperwork.

'_Who knew being Queen of Mobius had so much paperwork. Now I understand why Chuck stepped down...guess he hated as well'_ The young Queen breathed out slowly.

She quickly scanned the sheet in front of her before placing it onto one of two piles for her right hand man to sort through later. She jumped a little as the big oak door creaked open and a grey coloured hedgehog strolled in, beaming widely.

"What's going on Aleena?" He winced a little as he saw the pile of papers. "I would offer to help...but not with that." He continued, indicating the sheets spread out on the desk.

"Chuck!" Queen Aleena laughed at her brother before heading over to give him a quick hug. "I was just thinking of you. What brings you here anyway...you almost never come to the palace?" She asked, stepping back a little to give her brother some room.

"What? I can't come and visit my sister and nephew when I want to. Speaking of my nephew, where is Sonic anyway? He normally see's me coming a mile away" He chuckled at the thought of his nephew.

As if on cue a small blue streak tore through the doorway with a loud cry of 'you can't find me'. The hedgehog, who was expecting his mother to be at the desk, ran straight into Chuck.

"OW!" He screamed as he rubbed his head, he looked up at what he had banged into, scowling a little. The scowl was replaced with a huge smile, as his Uncle's face came into view. "Uncle Chuck, when did you get here?" Sonic shouted incredulously, joy sparkling in his eyes. He jumped forward and hugged his Uncle's leg, not being tall enough to hug him properly.

"Easy there Sonic...I think your stopping the blood flow in my leg" Sonic laughed cutely before releasing his Uncle. A look of realisation quickly fell upon his face and he started racing around the room. "I gotta find somewhere to hide...otherwise" Sonic shuddered in fear jokingly.

He giggled before deciding the best place to go was under the desk, he quickly ran over to it and ducked under. Just that second, a troop of five children skipped into the room. They consisted of a red echidna, a white bat, a pink hedgehog, a purple chameleon and a yellow kitsune.

Upon seeing the Queen, the pink hedgehog immediately stopped, and thought of a polite way to ask the question. "Miss Hedgehog, is it okay if we look for Sonic in here? He ran off and Rouge seems to think he's in here?"

Aleena smiled down at the young hedgehog. "Of course you can Amy."

"He isn't in here!" shouted the red echidna, Knuckles, arms crossed in an annoyed manner. "We're wasting our time!"

Amy giggled at his annoyed tone while the only other girl in the group, Rouge, stepped forward and flapped her wings to lift herself off the ground. "He is in here, and I'm going to prove it to you...hothead!" She stuck her tongue out at the echidna before flying around the big room, searching for something blue.

The two tailed kitsune, Tails, joined in as well using his tails to propel him around. The last of the small group of kids was a purple chameleon called Espio. "How come I never get to hide?" He muttered.

Knuckles heard him and replied almost instantly. "Because you can make yourself...poof...and that's cheating" This started a small argument between the two, and after a minute they both huffed loudly and faced the opposite direction.

Amy had decided to try and be helpful and joined in the search for the blue prince, humming to keep herself entertained. The two adults had started to converse between themselves, occasionally smiling at the kids before them.

"Aleena...I want you to watch Eggman closely. I have a feeling that he's up to something." Chuck whispered solemnly.

Aleena sighed sorrowfully, "You two just can't get along can you? I mean your brothers for Mobius' sake."

"Half-brothers...and anyway, our Mom was way nicer. I don't see what Dad saw in that other lady." This made Aleena giggle and she turned to see if her son had been discovered yet. To her surprise, Sonic was still unfound.

Knuckles stood at the doorway with a triumphant look as the rest of the group searched in vain. "I already told you he wasn't here!" He shouted, earning him another growl from the bat. Amy had decided that she would keep the echidna company because he looked a little lonely, humming as she did so.

"Amy, will you stop humming already!" He shouted at the young girl next to him. He immediately regretted saying it as he saw Amy's green eyes water a little before she screamed back at him.

"NO! You didn't even say please!" She blurted back, tears threatening to spill from her lime eyes.

Hearing the commotion between his two friends, Sonic decided to take a peek at them. He poked his head out a little bit, but after seeing the pink one on the verge of tears he jumped out his hiding place, heading for the echidna.

"Hey...Knuckles that wasn't very nice of you!" Sonic shouted, standing in front of the echidna with one arm stretched out in front of the girl protectively. Both adults stopped talking, ready to step in at any moment.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make her cry." Knuckles replied grumpily, he looked behind the two hedgehogs and frowned as Rouge gave him a 'told you so' look.

"Okay, Rouge, you win. He was in here!" Knuckles shouted, now even grumpier than before. Rouge beamed happily as she flew down to him.

"See, I told you I was gonna get it right. Now you have to walk me home" She stated proudly, waving goodbye to everyone and practically dragging the echidna with her.

"Um, I'm gonna go too. Bye guys!" Espio said quietly before running off after the other too with a cry of 'wait up!'

That left the two adults and three kids still in the room. Sonic, only realising his hand was still in front of Amy pulled it back awkwardly. He turned to Tails; he was twirling his tails instinctively.

"I'm gonna count in the..." Sonic scratched his head in thought. "I know! I'll count in the library. Tails and Amy, you two can hide there too...there's loads of cool places."

He gestured to the other two children to follow him and led them to the giant library down the corridor. The shelves reached the top of the high ceiling, each one stacked with books of different colours, sizes and thickness. The library itself had a sort of musty, but welcoming smell to it and the children ran in noisily.

Sonic ran to the tables set out in the centre of the grand room and began counting, as the other two walked off to find their perfect hiding places.

"One...two...three...four...five...six...sevaaaah" Sonic jumped as he felt someone tap him on his shoulder. He turned around only to be faced by his other uncle.

"Uncle Eggy, do you always have to sneak up on me?" Sonic questioned innocently. The face of his uncle mutated into one of pure displeasure but Sonic was completely oblivious to it.

"Of course. What kind of an uncle would I be if I didn't keep you on your toes?" Eggman replied sourly. The young hedgehog eyed the book in his Uncle's hands.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing at the book curiously. Eggman moustache jiggled as his lips spread into a sly smile.

"What? Oh, this old thing!" Eggman lifted the book up away from Sonic's grasp and continued. "This book was written by a person who went and studied the darkest parts of Mobius. But you don't want to know about that do you. You just finish you little game of seek and...whatever it is" Eggman smile didn't falter, he knew full well what the young boy's next words were going to be.

"But Uncle Eggman, I do want to know!" Sonic replied stubbornly, stamping a foot in emphasis.

"Oh, very well. But only if you don't tell anyone that I told you about it. I'm not really _allowed_ to tell you. It's been said that in the dark parts of Mobius, there are these truly fascinating creatures. Robots, they guard the place. Only the bravest of people go there...while the weak stay away from it in fear."

'_If that doesn't get the little wretch interested, I don't what will.'_ Eggman narrowed his eyes evilly.

"Where is the dark part of Mobius?" Sonic asked eagerly, jumping from toe to toe in anticipation, not noticing the change in his Uncle's behaviour.

Eggman led the boy to the window and pointed out the dark part of the city, just on the horizon. "There...that's where it is. But you must never go there...like I said before, only the bravest people go there." With that Eggman left the boy to his own thoughts.

'_Only the bravest people go there...Uncle Chuck calls me brave all the time. I have to prove to everybody I am really brave.'_ Sonic ran off to find his friends, bearing the news that they were going to go somewhere really cool.

...xxx...

"So kids, where'd you want me to take you?" Vector asked rather loudly. The clumsy crocodile had been assigned by Queen Aleena to keep an eye on the trio of kids while they went out of the palace grounds.

The kids, who were whispering together in a huddle spread out a little and smiled at their guardian sweetly. Amy was the first to speak. "Can you take us to the ice cream lady please?"

Vector's face lit up, the owner of the ice cream parlour, Vanilla, had been one of the only things on his mind lately. "Sure kids, follow me!" Vector instructed happily, the children followed obediently, giggling at their plan.

"So while Vector's talking, we go to the dark streets. Okay?" Sonic whispered, both his friends nodded their heads.

"What's this about the dark lands eh?" Vector questioned, surprised that the young hedgehog even knew about it.

Sonic started hopping on his feet, feeling slightly flustered. "Oh, we were just saying that there was a book in the library about it." Sonic spoke rather quickly than normal, and Vector looked at him with slight suspicion.

"What's up, you got ants in your pants?" Vector asked as the young boy continued swopping his weight between his feet.

"No, I'm just...excited that we're gonna get ice cream!" Sonic replied. He relaxed a little as the croc seemed to believe him and went on ahead.

Making sure that Vector was out of earshot, the hedgehog addressed his friends. "That was a close one...he would have told on us and then we would have been in big trouble."

"You nearly gave us up there though; just don't mention anything about the dark parts again okay?" Tails whispered back. Although he was the youngest in the group, everyone acknowledged him to be the smart thinking one, always thinking things through beforehand. Sonic had done a lot of persuading in order to get the kitsune to come along.

After a few minutes of muffled whispering, Vector led the trio into the small shop. "Okay kids, were here. Now what sort of ice cream would ya like?" Vectors voice boomed out as the three kids stated their personal choices. He walked up to the counter waited for the owner.

"Hello there dear, what can I get for you?" Vanilla's honey-like voice drifted into his ears like music, only sweeter and more melodic.

"Uh...Ummm, two chocolates, one strawberry and one v-v-v-vanilla please." Vector stuttered as he ordered his own choice. The rabbit laughed quietly before heading off to scoop the orders. Vector watched after her, noting her every movement as she scooped up the first ice cream.

"Come on...now's our chance. He's too busy looking at that nice lady. Let's go!" Sonic urged his friends.

Amy nodded and slowly headed for the door, Tails was too entranced by a young rabbit who had just stumbled out from behind the counter. Sonic snapped his fingers in front of the boys face, bringing the fox back to reality.

"Let's go!" he hurriedly whispered.

Tails smiled and waved at the rabbit before heading off after his friends. He was in so much of a hurry that he didn't see the girl giggle and wave back excitedly before hiding behind the counter again.

The trio ran down the street and turned into the nearest alleyway. They carried on walking for what felt like hours to the kids, but in actual fact were walking no longer than half an hour.

"Urgh...my feet really hurt." Amy whined, dragging herself after the two boys.

"Tails, Amy. Both of you hold one hand. I'm gonna get us there fast style." Both the children grabbed a hold of Sonic's hands and he was off in a flash. Sonic knew that they were close; he recognised some the streets from when he was looking out of the library window.

One short burst of speed later they arrived at their destination, the edge of the dark streets of Mobius. Sonic grinded to a halt and Tails released his grip. His other hand was being squeezed tightly as Amy gripped it in fear. Her eyes were wide as she looked at the dark, damp street in front of them.

"Amy are you alright...you look kinda scared?" Tails asked inquisitively, reading the girls face. Amy nodded as she looked at Sonic and reluctantly released her grip on his hand.

"Come on Ames, there's nothing to be scared of. You got me to look after you...and Tails" Sonic said bravely as he tried comforting her a little.

"Yeah, I know. But aren't you two a little afraid?" She breathed back.

"Scared of what? Uncle Eggman said there isn't anything here but cool robots." Sonic said coolly, looking down the long dark street. It was different to all the other streets they had passed, it was shadier, and more dirty.

"This place looks dangerous" Amy stated, Tails nodded his head in agreement. Sonic moved further into the street and turned to face his friends.

"Danger? Huh, I laugh in the face of danger, ha ha ha!" Sonic stated proudly, puffing up his chest impressively. A loud rumbling rang out behind him and he raced back to Tails and Amy in fright.

Three red robots entered the street from the alleys on the side and surrounded the trio who were huddled together in fear, staring wide eyed at the creatures before them.

"Uh-oh...!"

...xxx...

Hopefully the characters weren't too out of character; they are only kids at the minute. Anyways, let me know how I did in a review if you can.

Chao for now ;)


	2. Lucky Save

Thanks to Koololly, SilverDawn2010, 01sonamy01, Infinity Jazz Star Hedgehog, Kizziefoshnizzie for reviewing.

...Yes I am still alive. For now at least. I am really sorry for not updating for like the past two months. I had an exam to revise for and then I broke my laptop and it was in repair for about a month because they couldn't find the right keyboard and then I had writers block for a week and I think that just about covers it.

I've had half of this written since the first week of January, and now it's finally DONE! It was bugging me for weeks, it was just in the back of my head nagging me. I truly am very sorry. Very very very sorry. Hopefully this chapter will make up for it. (Well, it's a start anyway) So, enjoy. ^_^

Lucky Save

The robots surrounded the trio, their dark emotionless eyes locked onto their small targets. Sonic risked a glance at his two friends, both of them gaping in fear at their attackers. The young prince looked back at the robots, racking his brain for some sort of escape plan.

'_I have to do something. I have to prove to them I really am brave_!' Sonic narrowed his eyes and looked for some way to get past the merciless robots in attempt to lead them away from his friends. Finding an opening between two of them, Sonic used speed to his advantage and dashed through them, skidding to a halt about ten metres behind them. Sonic turned to face them again, determination etched into his small features.

"Hey, pick on someone your own size!" He shouted, feeling slightly intimidated by the giants standing before him. The three robots, noticing that their third victim had vanished, turned at the sound of his voice behind them.

After looking at Sonic for a few seconds, one of the robots spoke out to the others. "Sonic the hedgehog must be captured!" Sonic, rooted to the spot in fear, looked on in horror as the words echoed round the dark street. Tails and Amy, free from the robots attention, snapped out of shock and looked at each other in unison.

"What do we do?" Amy whispered fearfully, her green eyes focused on the blue hedgehog. She wanted to help him in some way or other.

Tails twisted his namesakes nervously, his little brain quickly identifying all their options. "We have to help him." He whispered back as the robots slowly advanced towards the hedgehog, like poachers stalking their prey.

"But how?" Amy's eyes innocently searched the baby blue ones next to her. Tails propelled himself into the air, flying forward a little he turned back to Amy.

"We have to help him. Any way we can!" With that, Tails flew towards the attackers in the hope to distract them from their objective.

Amy watched after him for a moment before stretching her hand out to her side. A red and gold hammer materialised out of thin air, it was relatively big compared to Amy's own size. Grabbing the handle with both hands, Amy struggled to regain her balance with the weight of the object for a moment before rushing off after Tails.

The robots were now a metre away, but Sonic still stood his ground. His fear growing with every step the robots took towards him. Sonic saw Tails flying behind them but paid no attention to him, feeling satisfied that his friends were safer than they were before.

Tails silently flew above the central robot, making sure to lower himself in front of it silently. When he was sure the robot could see him, he stuck his tongue out and zoomed past it, the robot turning to chase after him.

Sonic noticed the robot turn and run back down the street after a yellow flying creature, but before he had time to realise it was Tails a loud crash echoed out around him. The sound of metal being hit with something hard resounded around the dark street.

One of the remaining two robots turned around to face the culprit of the noise. As it turned, Sonic saw a hammer stuck to the back of its leg and couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous it looked. Two of the robots were distracted by his friends, which meant Sonic only had to deal with remaining one.

He revved his legs, prepared to use the spin dash attack Uncle Chuck had taught him. Once building up enough power, Sonic unleashed himself in the direction of the oncoming robot. He flew at the robot at a high speed, but created nothing more than a small scratch in the paint before he landed on the floor, panting heavily.

Sonic tried attacking the robot once again, this time homing into its head. This time Sonic left no mark. He breathed heavily, running to the opposite end of the street he gathered what little strength he had for another attack.

He could see Tails flying around in circles, the robot after him following his lead. Amy was stood behind the robot he had attacked, attempting to prise the hammer out for another attempt at hitting it while the robot shook wildly trying to detach both the girl and the weapon.

'_This isn't working. We can't distract them forever. Tails and Amy are in trouble and I'd do anything to help them. Why didn't I just come here by myself? At least then they'd still be safe...'_ The young hedgehog ran back to the robot, once again spin dashing into it. Landing with a light thump, Sonic changed direction and headed for both the other children in the area.

"GUYS!" He shouted, "Forget fighting them. We should focus on getting out of here. We don't really have a cha-" Sonic felt something cold wrap itself around his arms and shove him onto the floor face first.

"Mmmph...Ow, get off me you stinky bot" Sonic managed to mumble out, his head hurting from the pressure of the robot.

Just at that moment, a dazzling white light exploded around the street, piercing through the darkness and shrouding everybody's vision. Two pairs of green and a pair of blue eyes squinted through the blinding light, trying to make out their surroundings.

The light vanished almost as quickly as it had come and before the darkness could yet again consume the street, a startling pink light bathed the area in a warm glow. Sonic felt a soft tingling on his skin and slowly, the pressure of the robot slowly started to fade away.

Within seconds Sonic was able to move again and he stood up, his eyes immediately seeking out Tails and Amy. Sonic didn't care what had happened to the robots and was just glad that they weren't around anymore. Tails was still hovering in mid-air and Amy was sat on the floor, still clutching her hammer tightly. Both of them were staring wide-eyed at something behind Sonic.

Sonic turned slowly, dreading to find out who had been their saviour. A pair of jet black eyes met his and Sonic instantly lowered his gaze, pretending to be interested in the dirty floor as the figure spoke.

"Sonic the Hedgehog. I am very disappointed in you. By running away from Vector not only did you put yourself in danger, but you also put Tails and Amy in danger." Queen Aleena spoke firmly to her son.

"But...but Mum..." Sonic, speechless, started twiddling his thumbs and hoping he wouldn't get his friends into trouble with him.

"Tails, Amy." Aleena spoke more softly. Just because Sonic led, didn't mean you had to follow. Goodness knows what wouldn't have happened if Vector hadn't told me you'd run off to the dark streets." Aleena wiped a lone tear trailing down her face and smiled; glad to see the kids were okay.

Queen Aleena gathered the trio together and pulled them into a hug, the last of her anger dissipating into the air around them. Gathering together the three kids, Aleena raised her staff high and they all vanished, leaving the darkness to once again invade the street.

...xxx...

After both of his friends had been safely dropped off home, Sonic had been sent to his room. His room was fairly large, yet it wasn't big enough to keep the young hedgehog entertained for long. Sonic had only been in his room for half an hour and was already feeling the urge to run through the scented flowers in the garden and feel the wind rush through his short quills.

"I'm so bored..." the hedgehog moaned to himself, flopping down on his bed. Sonic lay on his back, focusing on the night sky that had been painted onto his ceiling. Sonic hated being stuck in one place, so looking at the sky as he fell asleep always made him feel his was on an adventure in a distant place.

Unfortunately, it wasn't helping him right now. It only reminded him of how he was cooped up and unable to run free. _'If only I'd stuck to buying ice-cream. But no...I just HAD to go to the dark streets...They were rubbish anyway.'_ Sonic let out a long sigh before rolling over, his eyes drifting to the orange sky outside his window.

The sun was just visible above his windowsill, the warm orb emanating a soft glow as it slid down the sky. The hedgehog turned and faced the blank wall behind him, trying not to focus too much on what he was missing.

...xxx...

Queen Aleena slowly opened the door to her son's bedroom and peeked inside. Sonic was laying on his bed, looking as if he was deeply in thought. Aleena proceeded to open the door fully and entered. Upon seeing his mother Sonic jumped up and watched her walk towards him, still ashamed of his irresponsible behaviour earlier he didn't meet his mother's eyes.

Aleena walked over to her son, her purple robes swaying with each movement she made. Coming to a stop in front of Sonic, she knelt down and lifted Sonic's chin so that he was looking directly at her. Seeing the apologetic look in his eyes she smiled at gave him a quick peck on the forehead. "Sonic...what am I going to do with you?"

"You could not tell me off. I mean...I already learnt my lesson" Sonic offered innocently.

"I can see just by looking at you that you know what you did was wrong. But...there is something that I want to talk to you about." Aleena slowly stood and walked over to the window, gazing out at the sun bathed kingdom.

"Sonic...come over here sweetheart." Aleena beckoned her son towards her and he obliged, rushing over to his mother in a matter of seconds. Aleena instructed Sonic to look at the city outside the window.

"Everything you see exists together in a delicate balance. As King, you need to understand that balance and respect all creatures, from the crawling ant, to the leaping antelope. All this...this whole kingdom will be yours someday. I won't be here to see that day, but when this whole kingdom belongs to you only then will you have to prove your bravery. You'll have to protect it from anyone with bad intentions or anyone wishing to harm the well-being of your people. This whole city will be yours to guard and protect. The only part of the city that won't belong to you is the dark streets." Aleena stated, watching the curiosity in her sons eyes grow with every word she spoke.

"But why are the dark streets not gonna be mine to protect. Their part of the city...aren't they?" Sonic questioned.

"Honey, they are a part of the city. But their part of the city that doesn't belong to us. It belongs to all the bad creatures and robots...like you saw earlier." Sonic reddened as he recounted his mishap with robots earlier.

After a couple of minutes of deep thinking, Sonic spoke again. "Mum...do you think I was brave for going there, even if I wasn't supposed to?" Aleena giggled at the hedgehog and pulled him into a tight hug.

Pulling away a little, Aleena looked deep into Sonic's small green orbs. "Sonic, there's a fine line between being brave and being foolish. You are a very brave young boy, but you don't have to prove that to anybody. Not at your age. Truthfully, going there today you were foolish. But the way you looked out for your friends. That was exceptionally brave." Aleena ruffled Sonic's quills before going over to sit down on his bed.

Aleena continued to talk and play with her son until the sun vanished completely and he fell asleep in her arms. Aleena softly tucked him into bed, placing a motherly kiss on his forward and pushing his quills out of his face before leaving for the drawing room.

...xxx...

"Where is Aleena? She was supposed to meet us in here over an hour ago." Chuck complained, fiddling with his grey quills nervously and he paced around the room.

"I dunno...but these doughnuts sure are good." Vector stated as he ate his eleventh doughnut of the day.

After finding out his nephew had been to the dark streets, Chuck was itching to talk to his sister about the worries he had for the two of them. After what felt like hours, the drawing room opened and Aleena walked in, wearing a mysterious smile.

"Chuck, Vector" She nodded courteously at each name and took a seat at the table, the latter standing up and bowing before retaking his seat. Chuck stopped pacing and sat down next to Vector. He collected his thoughts before talking.

"Aleena, I wanted to talk to you about Sonic." He stated plainly, wanting to get straight to point quickly.

"If it was about him running off to the dark streets then rest assured that he won't ever be going there again." Aleena replied.

"Well...yes and no. I was focusing more on how he found _out_ about the dark lands. You see Eggman..." Chuck was cut off as Aleena spoke over him.

"Not this again. I know you two don't get along but you don't have to blame each other for everything that happens around this castle." Aleena stated, getting irritated at her brothers hatred for each other.

"I know but who else could have told him, huh?" Chuck stood and continued to walk around the room. "Eggman has wanted to get rid of you Sonic for years, why don't you believe me when I tell you that. I'm sure this has Eggman written all over it. You and Sonic are the only things standing in the way of him becoming king." Aleena sat quietly even though she knew about her brother's theory inside out.

"He's working on something...and right under our noses. But what?" Chuck clenched his fists tightly, frustration evident by his features.

"Uh, Sir...if I may have a say in this. The kids told me they found out about the dark streets from one of the books in the library. It may well be possible that you've got it all wrong and Sir Eggman has no part in this." Vector offered politely.

"Well, there you go. The kids found out about the dark streets from a book from the library. Those books are very old and there are millions of them. They were playing hide and seek in the earlier so they must have stumbled on a misplaced book." Aleena stood up and straightened her lilac dress.

"Now if you don't mind. I have a few things to attend to. Goodnight gentlemen." And with that, Aleena walked out of the room, leaving Chuck and the head guard to busy themselves.

...xxx...

I was completely torn between having Chuck or Aleena talking to Sonic about him being king. I finally decided and Aleena and decided to have Chuck suspecting Eggman for everything. I think it suited him quite well. Thanks for reading and hopefully I'll be able to update sooner. Chao for now ^_^


	3. Tricks and Traps

Wow. It's been a long time coming but I am glad to say this chapter is finally DONE! I do have to admit that the first section of this has been written for quite a long time, I just didn't have the time or motivation to finish it. But it's done and hopefully you guys will enjoy it.

Thanks to everyone who's still reading my stories and everyone who's reviewed, alerted or favourited this story. I really hope this makes up for the incredibly long wait.

Tricks and Traps

The morning sun shone brightly over the palace gardens, lighting up the young flowers and creating a generally pleasant mood around the whole city. The castle was bustling with life as people completed their morning duties.

A blue streak zipped around the castle, gracefully avoiding the flowerbeds and people walking by. After making a couple of trips around the grounds, Sonic made his way to his mothers study. Finding the door already open, Sonic slowly walked in looking around to find Queen Aleena.

"Sonic honey, can I help you?" Aleena asked, knowing he was there without even looking up from the book she was reading. Sonic grinned before walking over and jumping onto his mother's desk.

"Mum, can I go to visit Uncle Chuck?" Sonic's eyes glittered as the sun shone over them through the window.

"I'm sorry sweetie, but your Uncle's out of town for a couple of days. He had some important work that needed to be done. Maybe you could find something else to occupy your time?" Aleena replied softly. Sonic felt his heart drop and gave his mother a disappointed nod.

A soft knock resounded on the door as the green crocodile, Vector, entered. Standing before the Queen, he bowed politely before announcing himself.

"Your majesty, it's an honour and a privilege that you let me perform this duty. With much pride and respect I lay before you all the goings on and facts about your realm. To fill you in on the news and ensure that our Queen stands sturdy at the helm, I am..."

"Vector, the morning report?" Aleena interrupted, an amused smirk played about her lips.

"Huh, oh yes. Sorry your highness." Vector pulled out a long piece of parchment before starting to read it out loud. "The gardeners are going berserk over the amount of bugs attacking the flowers; the cook is complaining that he needs more staff, the villagers on the outskirts have thanked you for..."

Sonic yawned as Vector continued to read his seemingly endless list of notices, complaints and compliments. Sonic tugged on his mother's arm and she glanced over with a look of confusion.

"What is honey?" She whispered sweetly, trying to listen to both Vector and her son.

Sonic stood thinking before speaking a couple of seconds later. "Can I go to see Uncle Eggman? We never get to hang out anymore."

"Sure honey, as long as it's okay with him." Sonic grinned before giving his mother a quick hug and leaving to find his Uncle, leaving Aleena to deal with the morning report alone.

The young hedgehog ground to a halt outside his step-uncle's study and hurriedly pushed the door open, rushing in at top speed. He found his Uncle looking out the window with a questioning look on his face.

"Hey Uncle Eggman, guess what?" Sonic chirped cheerfully grinning as his Uncle turned around. Eggman found the hedgehog zipping around behind him and quickly answered with a "What is it now", unable to hide the tinge of annoyance in his voice as he spoke.

"Uncle Chuck's busy so I get to hang out with you _all_ day!" Sonic replied, making himself comfortable on the sofa at the side of the room.

"Whoop-de-doo. I'm practically bursting with excitement." Eggman sneered sarcastically as he took a seat behind his desk. _'A whole day with this annoyance. That Chuck's already on my case, I could do without another problem.'_

"I was so worried about you when I found out you'd gone to the dark streets. What were you thinking?" Eggman put on a worried look as he spoke. _'Why did you bother coming back?'_

"I just wanted to be brave." Sonic replied quietly, staring at his feet to avoid his Uncles gaze.

"Very well. Be careful next time, _you are my favourite nephew after all_." Eggman replied, making sure Sonic missed the scowl that formed on his face as he talked.

Sonic stood up immediately and made his way over to Eggmans desk. "Uncle Eggman. I'm your only nephew." Sonic laughed.

"Where is Chuck exactly? It's been a while since we had a proper... _chat_." Eggman asked, a sly smile creeping on to his features.

"Uncle Chucks out of town for a couple of days. I don't know where exactly but if you wanna talk to him you'll have to wait till he comes back."

'_Perfect. Chucks out, and the squirts with me for the whole day. If I play my cards right, I can finally put my plan into action.'_

"Sonic, how about me and you go out for a walk?"

Sonic thought about it for a minute. "I'm sorry Uncle Eggy. But I'm gonna get in trouble for going out of the castle."

"Really? Well isn't that a shame. You see, it was going to be a surprise for your _mother_. But if you don't want to make her happy, then that's fine with me." Eggman sneered, knowing full well that his manipulative words were wrapping the young hedgehog round his fat finger.

"A surprise for mum." Sonic pondered the thought before nodding. "Okay Unc. I'm in." Sonic gave a grin and a thumbs up to his Uncle.

"Great! You go get your stuff while I make a few arrangements to make this day..._unforgettable_" A glint of evil flashed across Eggmans blue eyes as he slid down his sunglasses.

...xxx...

Sonic ran through a bunch of tree's and skidded back around, tapping his foot lightly on the ground as he waited for his Uncle to catch up.

"Come on Uncle Eggy. We've been walking for _hours_! When are we gonna get there!" Sonic whined impatiently.

"I'm the only one that's been walking; you've been running around like an annoying little twerp." Eggman replied. It had been an hour since they left the safety of the castle and if he didn't find who he was looking for soon; Eggman knew someone was going to suspect something was going on. They continued steadily through the woods, the undergrowth getting denser with every step they took.

A few minutes later, a glint of silver caught the man's eye and he knew they were there. He'd found just the people he wanted and there was no time to waste fumbling around.

"Sonic, I want you to stay right here while I go and collect the present." Eggman said slowly.

"But Uncle Egg-" Sonic started but was cut off with a loud 'STAY HERE!' Sonic was taken aback at the harshness in his Uncles voice but shook it off and decided it was just for his own safety. He watched as the unusually tall figure of his uncle walked into the bushes and disappeared.

He stared at the place where his uncle had gone for a whole minute before deciding that he might be there for a while. Looking around, Sonic found that he was stood in a small sort of clearing, with fewer trees than the surrounding area. He tapped the dirt beneath his feet gently with one foot and laughed as a plume of dust flew up at every tap and settled back on the ground before being flung into the air again by his red sneakers.

Another few minutes past and Sonic was already bored of his new game. He turned to where his Uncle had disappeared and decided that he'd go after his Uncle just in case he was in any danger. He walked up to the bush and pushed back the rough branches laden with leaves before slipping through the gap.

He'd barely gotten through to the other side when he was confronted with a metallic figure with a balaclava design on his face. Sonic' eyes lit up in fear and he scrambled back through into the clearing, the metal robot in fast pursuit.

Sonic could hear himself breathing heavily as the huge metal robot closed in on him. His legs were paralyzed with fear and he prepared himself for the final blow he knew was coming. He shut his eyes tightly and held his arms up in front of his face as the robot pulled back his arm and got ready to aim.

A couple of seconds passed and Sonic was still stood there, still alive, still waiting for the attack. But the expected blow never came.

Silence.

Not a single bird chirped in the sky above him, nor a single insect scuttle along the floor beneath him. Sonic opened one eye slowly and found the robot frozen in time, unmoving in attack position as though it was nothing more than a statue moulded from iron.

Sonic ran to the other end of the clearing as fast as his legs could carry him and turned to see the robot properly. A familiar purple glow emanated from the shiny armour and Sonic' heart beat rapidly.

Sonic let himself breathe for the first time since seeing the monstrosity and whispered one word.

'Mum'

No sooner had the words left his lips than the lady herself floated down into the clearing, the same purple hue surrounding her. Her green eyes focused on the robot as she held her staff with both hands. The jewel encrusted relic shone brightly and with a bright white light, the robot vanished without a trace.

Queen Aleena lowered herself slowly towards the ground, her purple mane floating effortlessly in the air around her. Her feet met with the dirt and she turned towards her son in worry.

"Sonic, where have you been!" She whispered as she pulled him into a tight embrace. "I thought I told you to stay in the castle grounds." Before Sonic had time to answer, a whole horde of the robots emerged from the undergrowth. The twigs and branches snapped off their tree's to make way for the metal monsters.

Aleena and Sonic's eyes widened in fear simultaneously as Aleena pushed her son behind her. She gripped her staff tightly, the jewels flashing with energy as the power built up inside it.

"Sonic, I'll hold them off. I want you to go and climb that tree behind you and don't come back down until you know it's completely safe to come down." Aleena instructed her son, knowing that this could well be the last time she ever laid eyes on him.

"Mum" Sonic whimpered, his eyes starting to well up with tears.

"Honey, go! There's no time to waste!"

The cobalt hedgehog looked at his mother for one last time before running up the tree as quickly as he could, silently hoping that the robots hadn't realised where he'd run off to. He tried to look through the tangle of wood and leaves in front of his face but the only thing he could make out was the purple and red flashes of light from his mother and the robots.

'_Come on mum, you can do this. You're the best fighter in this entire kingdom.' _Despite constantly telling himself this, the young hedgehog could do nothing to stem the constant flow of tears rolling down his small muzzle.

...xxx...

For a long time, all Sonic could see were blurred lights and all he could hear were the constant whirring of bolts of energy hitting objects. Trees or his mother, Sonic had no idea of knowing.

A rustling of leaves left the young hedgehog sitting in silence. He could no longer hear a thing. Not his mothers comforting voice or the firing below. He decided to stay hidden for another minute or so before going down to see if it was safe to come down.

A minute dragged on slowly, and Sonic finally gathered up enough courage to climb down slowly. His foot kept slipping on the broken bark and Sonic was left wondering why he hadn't yet slipped off completely and fallen onto the ground below him.

The second his feet touched the ground, Sonic scanned the small clearing. His eyes immediately found what he had been dreading the whole climb down, a lump of purple in one corner of the clearing. His mother.

Sonic ran up to her and lifted her head into his hands.

"Mum, wake up. All the bad guys have gone. Mum...please wake up!"

The warm tears overflowed from his green eyes and dripped onto the dirt beneath him, leaving dark spots wherever they hit.

"Mum, please get up" He whispered almost inaudibly.

Sonic buried his face into his mothers form, the constant tears seeming like they would never end.

"Sonic"

Sonic jumped up in surprise. "Mum!" He shouted, a faint glimmer of hope in his emerald green eyes.

"It's me Sonic! You're Uncle Eggman" Sonic looked at his Uncle, his tear-stained face reflected his sorrow and loss.

"She's dead" Sonic knew already, but having it told to him hurt more than he could have ever imagined.

"You have no one to blame for this but yourself you know. You didn't help her! Instead you just hid away like a coward." Eggman stated archly, a small smirk played on his lips as Sonic ate up his every word.

"This is your fault. _**You **__killed her!_"

Sonic's eyes widened at the realisation of everything that had just happened. Uncle Eggman was right. He was supposed to look after her. He was her son after all, and all he did was hide in a tree like a coward. If he had helped her instead, then she wouldn't have died. She'd still be there next to him, still be alive.

"How...how will I tell Uncle Chuck that it was my fault my mother is dead?" Sonic asked, a fresh flow of tears streaming down his face.

"Tell. Tell? My boy they will exile you forever. You killed the queen...your own mother!" Eggman shouted, his blue sunglasses glinting in the dim light.

"You can't go back! You can never go back!"

"But what do I do?" Sonic whimpered.

"Run, run away, and never return" Eggman said coldly.

A couple of seconds passed as Sonic took in what his Uncle had just said. He took one last look at his mother and uncle. He turned towards the where the undergrowth was most dense and without taking another look behind him, Sonic ran straight into it with a determined look on his young face.

Eggman watched the small form of the blue hedgehog disappear into the shadows and let out an evil laugh.

'This is it! The city is finally mine and no one can take it away from me. Aleena's dead and gone and her twerp of a son _died in a brave effort to protect her_.'

Eggman laughed as a whole pack of metal robots slunk out of the shadows into the clearing.

"Well done my minions. You have done well. Now there is only one thing left to take care of!" The robots listened to their master intently.

"The blue hedgehog..." Eggman laughed heartlessly as a smile crept upon his lips. "Kill him!"

...xxx...

Well, that's this chapter done ^_^ I better get started on the next  
Please let me know what you thought of it and one last thing...I'm back baby :)


	4. The Era of Eggman

Sheesh, that took longer to write than expected. Hopefully it doesn't seem too rushed.  
Thanks to sonicathehedgehog, 01SonAmy01 and Infinity Anime chick for reviewing ^_^ I really appreciate it.

The Era of Eggman

The tears dripped off a small tan muzzle as a young blue hedgehog wandered aimlessly through the suddenly dark and frightening forest. Each tree seemed to close in on the small boy just like the shame that was slowly but surely consuming his heart. His feet padded softly on the dry earth as the first drops of rain found their way through the maze of entangled leaves and branches above him, landing lightly onto the hedgehogs tear drenched face. He arrived into a small clearing not unlike the one he had been in earlier.

The drops of rain slipped off the waxy leaves and splashed on his face, mimicking his tears as they rolled of his moist cheeks. Sonic stood and watched as slowly more and more drops fell on and around him, the pitter patter of the rain getting louder by the second.

Through the rhythmic pounding of the rain, a robotic whirring caught Sonic's attention. He couldn't quite pinpoint just where the noise had originated from but he knew wherever it was, it was getting closer. As the whirring got louder and louder, the young hedgehog started to panic, his green eyes searching frantically through the overgrown bushes for the source of the noise.

'_Mum I need you...' _His voice echoed in his head like a lonely wind. In his mind he knew that where his mother was, she couldn't help him now. Yet his heart continued to deny him, she couldn't be gone. Not completely, not ever.

The spines on his back stood on end as the whirring stopped abruptly; he could sense something standing right behind him, hearing the rain bounce off their figure. He stood stock still, a small glimmer of hope flared in his heart as he thought that maybe it was his mother waiting to take him back to the castle.

"Mum?" he croaked hoarsely, his throat sore from crying. _'Please tell me it's you...'_

Nothing. Only the sound of rain filtered through his leaves and a soft bleep brought itself to his attention.

Sonic slowly gathered up his courage and urged his feet to twist him around to face whatever was there. Slowly but surely his numb feet responded, turning themselves and him around on the soggy ground. He was met with a frightful view as his breath stopped short. Standing in front of him in all its metallic glory stood the same robot he had encountered earlier while searching for his uncle. The same robot that had brought his mother to an untimely end.

Before Sonic could even begin to feel the fear running through his veins, the cold metallic voice rung out in the damp forest air. "Scanning subject...identifying..." A series of robotic bleeps and hums resounded from the metal casing. "Subject identified as Sonic the Hedgehog, instructions kill without mercy!" No sooner had hedgehog heard the words than the robots right arm morphed into a high power laser gun.

The hedgehog needed no further warning to know that he had to run right now, or remain lost in the forest forever. He twisted himself back around as fast as he could and guided his feet through the knotted growth of leaves at the other end of the clearing, narrowly dodging a bolt of yellow energy, using his speed to propel himself through. The sharp twigs hidden behind the cover of the leaves caught on his soft face and Sonic could feel a hot trickle of blood slide down his left cheek.

He dismissed the pain surging through his cheek and kept running, the rain pounding against him. Sonic's ears trained themselves onto the tinny noises of the robot, he could hear it in the distance coming for him. His pounding heart threatened to burst from his chest as he pushed his legs to the limit, going faster and faster_. 'I have to lose this robot, it's not like I can fight it'_ he thought as he crashed through two overgrown bushes, adding to his collection of scrapes and bruises.

Sonic's ears pricked up. Was it just him, or had the mechanical whirring gotten louder. It was gaining on him, it must be. Sonic risked a glance behind him and almost froze on the spot. Two more robots, identical to the first, had joined in on the hunt for fresh hedgehog meat. He spun his head back to look where he was going, _'At least there not any closer'._ He whizzed past yet another tree and was now running along an old unused pathway, the dust flying up behind him like tell tale gloomy trail.

Sonic felt a burst of heat fly past him and realised that now he was in clear range, they would stop at nothing to get to him. The robots constant firing of laser beams slowed the navy hedgehog down a little and the huge monstrous robots started to close in on him.

In the distance, Sonic could just make out some spiky brambles blocking the path. If he could just get to the brambles and squeeze through, he would be home free. His pursuers were far too big and heavy to follow him through, and the brambles were too thick for them to blast their way through without setting the whole kingdom on fire in the process.

He sped along the trail, his eyes trained on his set destination. _'Almost there' _there were only a few more metres left till he reached the brambles. _'Come on feet, don't fail me now' _

Another round of lasers fired past him and Sonic suddenly felt a burst of pain flying up his right leg. The sheer force of the laser beam sent him flying to the ground, clutching his leg in pain.

The robots stormed closer by the second, now giving up the laser attack. Their enemy was now nothing but a lamb to slaughter. No weapons or means of escaping. Sonic scrambled frantically to the brambles, he could almost feel the robots behind him.

With one final burst of effort Sonic span into a ball, ignoring his aching limbs, and sent himself speeding through the thick brambles. He heard the loud cracks of the branches as he flew through, stopping short about three metres in.

He had left a small hole behind him, the sides of which were singed by the immense speed he had shot through. Sonic could see the robots trying to get through and almost felt like laughing at their vain efforts. All of sudden, he saw the barrel of a laser block the hole. Sonic's eyes widened and he ducked down onto the floor as fast as he could.

He heard the heat blasts fly past his head, but never getting close enough to hit him. 'Looks like I'm gonna have to crawl my way out of here...' he thought to himself. And without taking another glance behind him, he crawled on his hands and feet towards the light in the distance. The further away he got the less he could hear the robots, and at one point he could have sworn he heard them retreating back into the forest but even this did not tempt him to turn and look.

He reached the end of the tunnel of brambles about half an hour later and was glad to finally be able to stand up straight. His muscles ached but he knew what he had to do. Instead of staying and resting for the night, the hedgehog sped off into the dusty unknown land that lay before him as the sun started to set in the horizon, taking all the light and hope the hedgehog still had with it.

'_Goodbye Mobius...' _

...xxx...

The crowd murmured noisily in the great hall wondering why on earth he they had been called there. One thing that did not go unmissed was that the Queen had not taken her place on the throne, as she usually did. In her place sat her odd half-brother Eggman. An peculiar smirk plastered on his face.

This sparked many rumours amongst the restless crowd. "The Queen's run away with her son because she couldn't take the pressure" an orange monkey whispered to a friend, while on the other side of the hall there was a completely different story. "She went an' killed herself didn't she. Too distraught at her sons near death experience she was..." The babble continued for half an hour before Eggman stood and called for attention.

The hall doors slammed open as a group of guards carried in a purple coffin, laden with flowers. On top of the flowers rested a large golden ring laden with jewels. The royal crown. The murmurs stopped abruptly as everyone stared, knowing full well who was inside. Their Queen. The guards came to the front of the hall and placed the coffin on the floor before the throne before moving to take their places at the sides of the room.

Eggman put on a mask of sadness as he greeted the crowd and told them the story of what happened earlier, with his own little twist. "...The boy was killed while valiantly protecting his mother's dead body from the oncoming bandits. Sadly, we were not able to recover Sonic's body." Looking out at the vast crowd, all he could see were tears and shiny eyes. _'Idiots, she wasn't even worth half of the tears you're shedding'_

Eggman shook of the thought and continued. "Queen Aleena's death is a terrible tragedy. But to lose my nephew Sonic who had only just begun to live, for me, is a deep personal loss."

He took another glance at the teary eyed subjects, soon to be his subjects, before announcing what he had been longing to announce ever since he had a claim to the throne. "So, it is with a very heavy heart indeed that I assume the throne." Eggman could do nothing to hold back his triumphant expression. It's out of the..."

A loud shout broke Eggman off and he stared at the source. A seething grey hedgehog stood at the entrance to the hall. Chuck lifted his finger accusingly and pointed it at Eggman. "It was you! All of this...ITS DOWN TO YOU! YOU DID THIS TO THEM!" Chuck was about to charge at his half-brother when two pairs of metal hands tightened around his arms, keeping him frozen to the spot. Two robots hands.

The entire assembly watched as slowly more and more robots filed into the room, gasping and shocked as to how they had entered the main part of the city, let alone the palace hall.

"He's just delusional." Eggman explained to the gathering. He watched as some of the guards turned to fend off the oncoming robots and shouted loudly. "Stop guards! The robots will do you no harm, if you want to keep your jobs I suggest that you return to your places at once!"

The guards reluctantly took up their positions on the side of the halls, keeping an eye on their new visitors. "Take Chuck to his room would you robots. I think he needs a little bit of time to let the truth sink in." The robots obeyed and dragged Chuck off as he kicked and screamed to be free. As his cries died down, Eggman continued.

"As I was saying earlier, it is out of the ashes of this tragedy we shall rise to greet the dawning of a new era. An era in which both Mobians and robots come together... in a great and glorious future."

The chatter rose up in the crowd again as Eggman's proposal baffled them to no end. Make friends and live with the robots, the ruthless killing machines. Surely that was beyond impossible.

"Anybody who doesn't agree with this idea can spend the week in the dungeons without food and water. Then see how welcoming they are to the magnificent plan" He said evilly.

"Now then..." Eggman lifted the glittering crown, currently residing on the coffin, and placed it dramatically on his own head. "Say hello to your new king!" Eggman laughed victoriously as the crowd stared at him with hatred. They had lost two of their kingdoms best people, and now they had the worst of the worst ruling them.

Somewhere in the middle of the crowd, a yellow kitsune and his friends stood in fear as the robots moved freely around the room. Each of them trying to calm themselves down and take in the horrifying news. Tails was sat on the floor next to Amy, his knees drawn up to his face, both crying. Even the usually stony red echidna had tears glazing his eyes as he comforted a white bat. Espio was nowhere to be seen, but all of them sensed his presence near them. They all understood that Sonic was gone, but somehow it didn't seem real. Not to them.

...xxx...

Thanks for reading ^_^

Any guesses as to who will play the roles of Timone and Pumbaa? It'll be interesting to see who you guys think it will be ;)


	5. Outcasts

Big thank you to Infinity Anime Chick, Mermain123 and Amy Rose for reading and reviewing. The people I've picked for the roles of Pumba and Timone aren't really two people you'd consider to be best friends – and I'm pretty sure I've butchered them v_v

Outcasts

A harsh sun beat down on the hard, cracked earth as pair of vultures circled high above in the air. Their beady eyes fixed upon their next potential meal, a small blue animal hunched up on the ground in the middle of nowhere.

After one more full circle around the body, the two scavengers nodded to each other in mutual consent. They swooped down and landed forcefully onto the dried dirt sending plumes of dust flying in every direction.

Both vultures eyed the royal blue animal suspiciously before pecking at it tentatively, wondering if it would put up a struggle. When the hedgehog did nothing to respond, the fatter vulture pecked at the hedgehog harder.

_'Ow!'_ Sonic kicked out at something near his foot. He heard his foot collide with something hard and tried to open his eyes, but they refused to adjust to the bright sunlight. He had hit the vulture right on the beak and it cowardly gave up the fight and flew off without its companion.

The remaining vulture found its chance to take another swipe at the animal before him and Sonic felt a sharp pain shoot up his left arm and lashed out at his attacker, forcing his eyes to remain open long enough for him to get a good shot.

Sonics retaliation only angered the bird, and it continued to try and make a meal of the navy hedgehog. Sonic forced himself off the ground as his eyes finally let him see clearly and batted the bird's beak away with his fists, using his fancy footwork to keep himself out of pecking range. Sonic kicked out at the vulture every chance he got, but nothing was scaring it away. _'This guy's not gonna give up without a fight'_

"Aaaaaarrrrgggghhh!"

A loud screech echoed through the air as two figures came bursting onto the scene. They created a loud hullabaloo as they approached the vulture and its prey, charging at it like it was an enemy in war.

The bird turned at the commotion and a look of fear crossed its large lifeless eyes. The vulture scattered almost immediately, squawking madly as it retreated back into the sky in search of new meal. The force of its flight created a powerful wind which sent some of its loose scrawny feathers flying around the blue hedgehog.

"I love doing that!" One of the figures shouted, as they both punched the air in triumph.

"It gets them every time!" Grinned the other, as his eyes fell upon the blue hedgehog.

Sonic felt his knees buckle beneath him and he tumbled to the floor. The two strangers stood watching him curiously, their amber eyes fixed on his every movement. His own emerald orbs watched back intently, trying to figure out if these newcomers were friends or foes.

A few moments passed before anyone spoke, and it was the big purple cat that disturbed the silence.

"Is it still alive?" His voice was deep, yet it seemed friendly and youthful. The other figure was a hedgehog just like Sonic, except this hedgehog was white and slightly older.

A small pebble suddenly lit up with a blue glow and Sonic watched incredulously as it floated before him, his eyes wide in amazement. Before he could try and work out how it was floating, it flew straight at him, hitting him hard on the shoulder.

"Ow!" Sonic rubbed his painful shoulder, glaring at the pebble which now lay lifelessly next to him. _'How did that happen?'_

"Does that mean he's alive?" the purple cat asked, his yellow eyes watched the blue hedgehog in interest.

"Big...he's moving, of course he's alive!" The silver hedgehog replied sarcastically.

'_Big? That must be the purple cat's name'_ Sonic stifled a laugh at the name before returning his attention to the conversation.

"He's so small and all alone. Can we keep him?" Big suggested, smiling widely at the young hedgehog who smiled back sadly.

"Big are you nuts. How are meant to look after him?" Silver replied, facing his friend as he spoke. "We can barely look after ourselves out here..." Sonic saw a faint trace of sadness cross his eyes before it vanished.

"But Silver, he's so little!" Big declared, moving his thumb and forefinger closer together for emphasis.

"He's gonna get bigger!" Silver stated as he started to walk back the way they'd come.

"I _can_ hear what you're saying you know" Sonic stated, standing up and making himself heard between the two's argument.

Both the strangers turned to face the young hedgehog who was dusting himself off with his ripped gloves. They'd gotten tangled in the bushes when he was running from the robots and in his rush to get away, Sonic had just torn them off not caring if they were damaged.

"Please Silver. Just ask if he wants to come with..." Big trailed off as he noticed a flock of dark birds in the horizon. Both hedgehogs followed his gaze and Sonic heard the white hedgehog mutter something under his breath.

"Okay kid. We gotta ditch the vultures and run. You cool with that?" Silver asked hurriedly.

"Sure, but why are we running. I thought the vultures were scared of you?" Sonic questioned, his feet scuffing the ground in an agitated fashion. He needed a good run to clear his head.

"We got no time to waste. RUN!" Silver shouted as he followed in pursuit of Big, both headed towards to the entrance to a large forest not too far off in the distance.

Taking a quick glance at the advancing vultures, Sonic took a deep breath and steadied himself before making a break for it. Every step sent dust flying into the air and Sonic quickly surpassed both the white hedgehog and cat.

"What the..." Silver watched in awe as the young hedgehog flew past him at breakneck speed, arriving at their destination long minutes before either him or Big. The flock of vultures had given up their chase and had turned back, knowing that their victims would be under the cover of the trees long before they could get to them.

Silver was the first to arrive and eyed the blue hedgehog suspiciously before turning and looking where his friend had gotten too. Big was just a couple of metres behind him and he quickly stumbled into the forest, finding a tree to rest himself on.

Silver couldn't help but laugh at him as Big sat on the ground, eating an apple he'd just plucked from the tree. The blue hedgehog sat nervously on a rock seemingly lost in his own thoughts while his feet moved restlessly. Despite his initial dislike to the young hedgehog, Silver found himself acutely interested him.

"He looks blue..." Silver mused as he addressed Big. The purple cat nodded his head in approval and took another chunk out of the apple in his paw. "Navy blue"

"Yeah he is, but I meant he looks down" Silver explained. Despite being four years older than him, Big sure was naive at times. Although having grown up alone in a forest for most of his life, that was to be expected.

A loud cough brought Sonic back to the forest. Silver was sat before him with his legs crossed, his amber eyes glittering in the afternoon sun as he clutched an apple in each hand.

"What's your name kid?" Silver asked cautiously, afraid of scaring the boy.

"Sonic" came the sullen reply.

"You must be hungry Sonic" Silver stated as he offered Sonic an apple, he seemed mildly hurt as blue hedgehog refused his offer. He put the apple down in front of Sonic anyway, just in case he changed his mind.

Silver retreated to a nearby tree and watched as a few bugs flew past him lazily in the afternoon heat. He rubbed his own apple on his cloudy fur before taking a bite.

"Why did we run from the vultures?"

Big and Silver both turned to Sonic as Big answered him. "We can fight a couple of vultures but that many is too much. They would have killed us!"

Sonic nodded to say he understood and said nothing more. Big got up and nudged Silver off the tree branch and pointed to the hedgehog.

Silver gave Big a look of that said 'next time it's your turn' before heading over to Sonic.

"So, where you from hedgehog?" Silver questioned. Sonic looked up at the two figures in front of him sadly.

"Who cares, I can't go back..." Sonic turned away to hide his shame as the memories of the day before flooded his mind.

"So you're an outcast?" Sonic nodded slowly but didn't meet either Silver or Big's gaze afraid that they would be able to see right through him and know what he'd done. His mother had always called eyes the windows to the soul.

"That's great, so are we!" Big cried but was quickly silenced by a nudge from his friend. Sonic heard a mutter of 'This isn't the time, he's upset'

A look of understanding crossed the purple and white cat's features before he asked his own question. "What happened?"

"Something terrible... but I don't wanna talk about it" Sonic muttered, his eyes fixed to the ground.

"Anything we can do to help?" Silver asked sincerely, although he knew nothing about the boy he still felt a close bond with him.

"Not unless you can change the past..." Silver was sure he could see traces of tears in the young hedgehogs eyes but didn't press him for further details and the cerulean hedgehog was thankful for the space.

"You know at times like this, an old friend of mine used to say that you have to put your past behind you. Bad things happen and you can't do anything about them, right?" Silver questioned.

"Right" Sonic replied, his eyes full of sorrow.

"Wrong! When the world turns it back on you, you turn your back on the world." Silver stated, that was a lesson he was taught at an early age.

"That's not what I was taught!" Sonic replied incredulously, shock evident in his tone. Something his mother and uncle had instilled in him was 'If it seemed like the worlds turned its back on you, take a look behind you, you've probably turned your back on the world'.

"Then maybe you need a new lesson. Hakuna Matata." The sterling hedgehog stated, his golden eyes focused on the blue hedgehog.

"Hakana Ma - what?"

"Hakuna Matata" Big corrected.

"It means no worries hedgehog. These two words will solve all of your problems, take Big for example." Silver nodded towards the white and purple cat who waved enthusiastically.

"He was exiled from his village when he was ten. There was a food shortage and many of the kids were cast out to find a life elsewhere. Eight long years he's spent out here and he doesn't have a care in the world."

"Hakuna Matata" Big added as he grabbed his third apple from the tree.

Sonic laughed at Big as he chomped down hungrily before a slight frown found itself on his brow.

"Silver, why are _you_ here?" the blue hedgehog asked, his jade eyes glittering with interest.

The sterling hedgehog seemed lost for words as he contemplated an answer for his new found friend. Silver let out a breath of air he didn't even realise he was holding, before deciding that showing was probably better than telling.

He focused his mind on the apple that lay in front of Sonic as a light blue hue surrounded him. Sonic watched in amazement as the apple floated off the ground and hovered in front of him before drifting back down and resting on the floor.

"You have magic!" Sonic cried, his eyes glittering excitedly.

"Not magic, telekinesis. That rock that hit you earlier...that was me." Silver stated bashfully rubbing the back of his head.

"Did people not like the telekithing?" Sonic asked, desperately trying to remember the word Silver had used but to no avail.

"People don't normally like things they don't understand, and they didn't understand the powers I have and I was exiled aged eleven. That was three years ago. I found Big here and we've been friends ever since." A trace of sorrow was evident in the hedgehog's voice as he remembered his past but it quickly vanished.

"I think that you're powers are cool" Sonic said, a small smile creeping onto his lips and the silver hedgehog in front of him smiled back kindly.

"You got some pretty awesome powers too. You're speed is mind blowing!" Silver announced, as Big acted out an explosion behind him causing Sonic to giggle.

"Big, you're ruining my awesome dialogues here!" Silver laughed as he too turned to watch the big purple cat behind him.

Big stopped abruptly as a he looked like he was thinking something through. "If you're gonna stay with us, you have to try this!" Big shouted as he quickly foraged for something in the bushes.

Silver took a seat next to the cerulean hedgehog as they both waited for Big to find what he was looking for. "Got it!" He cried as he produced a small makeshift bowl full of sticky water.

"What is it?" Sonic asked, eyeballing the bowl cautiously.

"Tree sap...it's what we drink when we can't find water." Silver explained, but Sonic still didn't think it looked appealing. Either way, he took a small sip from the carved out bark.

"Slimy, yet satisfying" Sonic replied, finding that it tasted a lot like flavoured water. He could so handle the life out here.

"Come on Sonic, let's go find fruit to eat" Big cried out as he bustled further into the forest with the blue hedgehog already hot on his heels.

"You know...maybe having another person around won't be such a bad idea." Silver whispered to himself as he slowly followed behind his two friends.

...xxx...

Silver - 14, Big -18

I'm not too happy about how this chapter turned out. I guess I just wanted to get it out of the way. Please don't shoot me if I haven't characterised Silver properly – I've never written him before and he's always seemed the cold on the outside kinda guy hence his initial disapproval of Sonic. And Big...what can I say, I am pretty sure I killed him but I couldn't let Silver do all the talking so I made him slightly more intelligent than I think he actually is.

Anywho, lemme know what you think of my whacked out choices and I won't have time to update till late January so until then chao ;) and Happy New Year!


	6. Can You Feel The Love Tonight?

Big thanks to CharmyXcream14, Infinity Anime chick, Romantic Person and 01SonAmy01 for reviewing, and to everyone else who's been reading. Much appreciated guys.

Anyways, this chapter is finally done. I couldn't get into at first so that would explain the incredibly later than expected update. Here's hoping it was worth the wait :)

Can You Feel The Love Tonight...?

Sonic – 19, Amy – 18, Silver - 26, Big - 30

_**Twelve years later...**_

The soft rays of morning sunshine filtered through the trees, gently caressing a tan muzzle as a pair of vibrant emerald eyes lazily revealed themselves. A cerulean hedgehog slowly shifted himself to a sitting position before glancing around the clearing to find his two buddies. Nothing white or purple caught his eye.

"They must have woken up early and gone to find breakfast..." He pondered out loud before jumping down from the tree branch. He stretched his long blue legs sluggishly before shaking himself fully awake.

'Well, may as well meet them at the usual spot' Sonic thought to himself sleepily as he wandered in the direction of the lake. Pushing away overgrown greenery, he slipped through the jungle and revved up his legs. In a burst of speed he flew past, the world was nothing but a green blur to him...and a flash of pink?

Sonic stopped abruptly. He looked around himself curiously. He was used to seeing flashes of silvery white and deep purple knowing that they were his friends. But pink? He'd never seen any other colours in the jungle, so that meant someone else was here.

He slowly jogged back the way he had just come, his eyes scanning every inch of the forest for a glimpse of pink.

He could've sworn he saw something when he ran past. 'Must have been a trick of the light' he wondered as he turned back towards the lake. Either way, he still couldn't help looking around him more observantly the whole way there.

That colour had been so familiar and had brought back old memories...but it must have been his guilty conscience. Twelve years later and he was still hurting. Sonic had never had any closure for his mother's death; all he could do was try to forget.

No matter how hard he tried to, memories of her last moments always came back to haunt him. Taunting him in his nightmares or whenever he was sat alone deep in thought.

'Why can't I just...'

_Splash!_

Sonic shivered violently as he found himself up to his chest in freezing cold water. That was not the kind of wakeup call he was expecting. Somewhere around the banks of the lake Sonic heard a round of raucous laughter and turned to find both Silver and Big rolling around laughing at his drenched form.

His wet blue fur hung limply around his face and his quills had been pulled down from the weight of the water. The only way to recognise the once well known hedgehog was his striking emerald green eyes. Sonic stared at his odd reflection in the crystal water, suppressing a chuckle as he made his way back to the edge of the lake towards the duo bent double laughing.

"What happened to you Sonic? You're always so careful about avoiding taking a plunge in water." Silver breathed out through laughs as he patted the cerulean hedgehog on his back.

Sonic muttered a 'don't know' before he shook manically, trying to remove every bead of the dreaded liquid from his fur. Droplets of water scattered around the area as Silver and Big shielded their faces from the oncoming splashes.

"So-onic!" Big garbled as he spun around to grab his fishing pole from behind him. He lifted it up clumsily and threw the line into the centre of the lake. "Catching breakfast..." He stated as he suddenly lost interest in the other two hedgehogs and focused solely on the line, waiting for the rush of excitement that came with the first tug.

Sonic went to join Silver on the bank, but for the second time that day he caught another flash of pink. The same pink he had caught sight of earlier.

"What the..." Sonic rushed over to the edge of the forest where he had just seen the pink figure. His bashful nature attracted the attention of the sterling hedgehog who came over to see if he was okay.

"Hey! Where are you?" Sonic shouted, frantically searching the area for the culprit.

"Sonic, are you -"

"Someone's here!" Sonic stated, far too quick for even his liking. He was just about to blast off when he felt a warm sensation on his feet and almost stumbled over as he found he couldn't move them.

"Silver, they're getting away by the second. Lemme go!" He shouted, still struggling to release his glowing feet from the grip of the sterling hedgehog.

"Sonic, are you sure you're not just being paranoid?" Silver stated calmly, watching the blue hedgehog closely for signs of hypothermia. The hedgehog had just ran right into a giant puddle of icy water. Besides, he couldn't see anyone around them anyway.

"No I'm not." Sonic said, slightly calmer than he was before. He had stopped struggling, knowing that it would be completely useless.

"What exactly did you see over here?" Silver asked as he released his hold. Looking around himself, Silver still couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

'Maybe it's just an after effect of one his dreams...' Silver had often heard Sonic murmuring in his sleep. He had made out enough to know that his friend had a heavy burden of guilt placed on his shoulders.

"It was someone in pink. I saw them earlier too but I thought I was just seeing things. But I'm not. There is someone here!" Sonic said agitatedly. He had seen someone, and he was sure they had seen him too. But that didn't explain why they didn't show themselves.

Sonic's little commotion had even knocked Big from his trance and he waddled over, his fishing line dragging along after him.

"Big, have you seen anyone other than me and Sonic here, because I haven't?" Big shook his head to agree with telekinetic hedgehog and they both stared at Sonic as if he was mad.

"Don't look at me like that, I'm not losing it. I did see... there, quick!" Sonic pointed in the direction of the rustling leaves, catching sight a light pink figure scurrying away.

"Okay...that I did see!" Silver stated as he followed in pursuit of the blue hedgehog that had already ran off after his evidence. Big watched as his friends ran off but decided against following after them. They had to have something to eat after all, so he set off to look for some fruit.

The purple striped cat made his way to his favourite tree in the jungle. A particularly large and low hanging orange tree, laden with sweet and tasty oranges that the trio ate whenever they needed a pick me up or just wanted a little treat.

...xxx...

"Sonic wait up!" Silver panted as he finally caught up to the navy speedster. They had lost sight of which way the pink figure had went a while ago and were now just on a wild goose chase.

"We've lost him..." Sonic angrily muttered as he balled his hands into fists. 'How could I let him get away, I'm the fastest thing in this jungle!'

Sonic was pulled out of his thoughts by a loud shout from a very familiar cat. "Arrrgghh!" Both Silver and Sonic glanced at each other rapidly before running back to see if Big was okay.

They found him sat on the floor staring wide eyed at a pink animal who was snarling at him threateningly. Sonic took the element of surprise and pounced on the figure while Silver helped his friend back up to his feet and tried to calm him down a little.

Sonic had knocked the figure off balance, but now he'd lost the surprise factor as the figure was staring him down, black mask revealing a pair of lime green eyes.

'That green...I've seen it before somewhere...'

Sonic just managed to dodge a blow to the stomach as he sidestepped quickly, if he was going to beat this guy he was going to have to focus. Sonic aimed a spin dash at the pink animal hitting it head on and sending it tumbling to the ground, knocking off the band that kept the stranger's quills in place.

Locks of rose pink quills cascaded down the figure's face and Sonic couldn't help but stare at her.

"You're a girl?" He asked, not quite knowing why he'd said it out loud. Silver and Big watched from the sidelines, they knew that this was a fight Sonic would be better off taking alone.

The girl lifted herself elegantly off the floor and brushed herself off before regaining her offence posture. She nodded her head as if to taunt Sonic to attack her first but the cerulean hedgehog remained rooted to the spot.

The green eyes and those pink quills had brought up so many memories, yet they were all so blurry. A hit to the side sent Sonic flying sideward's but he managed to use his fancy footwork to keep his balance and eyed the girl in front of him.

"I'm not gonna fight a girl." He stated simply, holding up his hands in retreat.

"That didn't seem to matter to you a minute ago!" The girl spat out sourly. She attempted another blow at the hedgehog but this time he was expecting it and easily dodged it, grabbing the girls pink wrists.

She struggled under his iron grip but it was useless. She was stuck fast in his clutches. She swung her leg violently to knock the hedgehog off balance, that way he'd release her. Unfortunately, her quick fire plan backfired.

Sure the navy hedgehog lost his balance, but she never expected that he'd keep a hold of her to stop himself from falling. She couldn't hold both his weight and his own and she fell tumbling down on top of him.

'This is so not good...' She thought to herself as she found herself face to face with the boy who refused to fight her. She struggled to release herself from Sonic's hold but found that now it was even tighter than it was before.

The hedgehog in question was staring at her in shock and awe as the memories of his childhood finally cleared up. The girl in front of him, the girl he'd found lurking in the forest was none other than his childhood friend Amy Rose.

'Amy...' he thought shell shocked, captivated by the idea of it actually being her. He hadn't seen anyone from his past ever since that day...and he didn't even get to say goodbye to any of them.

A pang of guilt suddenly overcame the hedgehog and he released the pink hedgehog. Amy took her chance and jumped off the hedgehog to get ready for another offence move. She stopped dead in her tracks as Sonic stuttered out her name with a confused look plastered on his face.

"A-A-Amy..." Sonic stared pleadingly at her, hoping that she would by some miracle remember who he was. Surely she couldn't have forgotten who he was, even if it had been twelve years since their last meeting.

Amy stared wide eyed at the hedgehog in front of her, her hand absent mindedly removing her mask , only now taking a good look at him. The blue fur, the trademark quills, how could she have overlooked them? And his emerald green eyes, she could've punched herself for missing them.

Sonic picked himself off the floor, both pairs of emerald eyes locked onto one another. Sonic felt a wave of warmth overcome him as his mind wandered back to the one time Amy had called him her boyfriend. Self-proclaimed of course. Sonic felt a small smile creep onto his lips as he continued to watch Amy's reaction.

"Sonic the hedgehog..." She whispered, yet his highly acute hearing picked up the words as the she uttered them out and he couldn't help but smile from ear to ear.

"The one and only" he replied back, his normal cockiness returning to his demeanour. He stepped forward arms outstretched in the hope that he could give his familiar visitor a proper welcome.

Amy obliged willingly and pulled him into a tight embrace, her arms entwined behind his neck. A few tears slipped out of her eyes but she ignored them and savoured the moment while it lasted.

Sonic the hedgehog, her Sonic, was still alive. All this time she'd never truly believed he was gone, she'd always thought Eggman had him locked up somewhere. But if Sonic was alive then...

Amy pulled away from the blue hedgehog's warm hug and looked at him accusingly.

"You're alive..." she said incredulously, her accusing gaze never leaving his.

"Really, I had no idea." Sonic replied sarcastically.

"But don't you know what that means? You're the true king of Mobius and Eggman will have to give up his crown." She seemed slightly lost in her own thoughts as she finished her sentence.

Silver stepped in with a look of shock on his features. He looked at both Amy and Sonic before pointing at Sonic.

"He's a king?" He questioned, confusion clearly evident.

"Of course he is!" Amy replied, slightly puzzled at why Sonic hadn't told them something that was such a huge part of his life.

The trio watched as Big suddenly stood in front of Sonic and bowed down low with a cry of 'Your majesty!'

Sonic quickly rebutted Big's actions stating "I'm not a king!" Silence ensued as everyone watched him intently. Sonic felt overwhelmed by all their gazes and felt like doing nothing more than to use his fast feet to take him anywhere but here.

Amy was the first to turn away and walk away from him and he felt slightly torn. He smiled apologetically to his two friends before running after her. He'd explain things to them properly later.

Silver and Big watched as the two hedgehogs disappeared into the distance, towards the direction of the jungle lake.

"Well Big..." Silver started as he took a seat on a nearby rock, "...looks like it's just me and you old buddy."

_I can see what's happening_

"What..." Big uttered before seating himself next to the sterling hedgehog. He didn't quite get why Silver suddenly looked so down in the dumps.

_And they don't have a clue [Who?]_

"_They'll fall in love and here's the bottom line, our trio's down to two."_ Silver explained, as he motioned to where the two hedgehogs had just disappeared.

_The sweet caress of twilight  
There's magic everywhere_

"Are you sure?" Big asked, his own expression turning into one of one of sadness. He really didn't want to lose one of his best friends.

_And with all this romantic atmosphere  
Disaster's in the air_

_...xxx..._

Sonic sat on the edge of the lake, his feet were mere inched from the chilly water. His eyes kept drifting over to the pink hedgehog on his right as the sun was beginning to set and send the forest plunging into another night of darkness.

He had spent the whole day showing his old friend around the jungle, giving her a tour of all his favourite haunts. He had felt this odd sense of pride every time her face lit up attractively; completely entranced by all the sights they'd seen. She'd especially loved all the tropical birds singing their melodic tunes.

_Can you feel the love tonight  
The peace the evening brings_

The whole lake was lit up as some of the final rays of light bounced off the surface and lit up the small clearing surrounding it. Amy had realised that Sonic wasn't focused on the beautiful scene in front of them for a while now and felt slightly touched. She took a quick glance to her left and smiled. Maybe all of her childhood fantasies weren't for nothing.

She turned to face the blue hedgehog completely, her hand scooping up a bit of water and flicking it onto his face. She giggled as Sonic looked at her, a look of complete horror on his face as he realised what she'd just thrown at him.

"Stop staring Sonic." Amy giggled out, before adding, "You're still afraid of water?" She looked slightly amused at his bashful expression. He met her gaze sheepishly and nodded before quickly apologising.

_The world for once in perfect harmony  
With all its living things_

Amy smiled at him lovingly as he suddenly seemed lost in his thoughts.

'She wouldn't even look at me if she knew about what happened...' Sonic thought helplessly, he could barely forgive himself for his mistakes. 'I can't ever tell her the truth...'

_So many things to tell her  
But how to make her see_

Amy clicked her fingers in front of the navy speedster to get his attention. "Sonic, are you okay, you seem really distant?"

_The truth about my past, impossible  
She'd turn away from me_

"Huh, oh sorry. I'm fine, just thinking." Sonic replied, giving her a trademark grin and thumbs up.

'What's wrong with him? Was it something I did?' Amy smiled back weakly.

_He's holding back, he's hiding  
But what, I can't decide  
Why won't he be the king I know he is?  
The king I see inside?_

Sonic felt his hand become enclosed in a warm tingly sensation and looked to see Amy softly gripping his hand. He squeezed her hand back tenderly as he unconsciously moved closer towards her.

_Can you feel the love tonight?  
The peace the evening brings_  
_The world, for once, in perfect harmony  
With all its living things_

His emerald gaze met her lime one and both stared at each other, as if searching for some clue. Anything that would help them to understand each other better.

_Can you feel the love tonight?  
You needn't look too far  
Stealing through the night's uncertainties  
Love is where they are_

Amy leaned in closer to his face as she breathed his name softly, sending tingling sensations running up and down Sonic's back.

_And if he feels the love tonight  
In the way I do_

Sonic felt the electric jolts soar through his body as his face was mere centimetres from Amy's. He knew what he wanted to do, and he knew that she wanted it just as much as he did.

_It's enough for this restless wanderer_

Both looked at each other lovingly before closing the distance between them, letting their lips do the rest of the talking.

_Just to be with you..._

...xxx...

Amy Rose is back people! I finally got to put some actual SonAmy cuteness into this story. There's more of that to come very soon, I can't wait to write it. Considering the fact that I had this chapter planned it...it looks nothing like the plan. Big was originally supposed to be the one he kept seeing 'pink' but I ended up writing that part as Sonic ^_^

Drop me a review if you can just to let me know how you think I did and Happy Valentine's Day!


	7. Internal Struggle

I could have probably made this better but I'm tired and I promised myself I would update today. Big thank you to Infinity Anime Chick, Romantic Person, A SHADAZESONAMY FAN, 01SonAmy01, and Sonicthehedgewolf for reviewing and to everyone else that read the story.

Sorry the update took so long – just so you know I'm trying to come up with a schedule so that I'll have at least one (if not more) updates a week.

Internal Struggle

_It's enough for this restless warrior  
Just to be with you..._

Jade eyes met forest ones as two love-smitten hedgehogs slowly pulled away from their first kiss, their lips still tingling. Sonic couldn't help but stare at the pink hedgehog, she looked so pretty and... and...

"Never thought I'd ever get to do that..." Sonic blurted, a look of surprise crossed his face as he realised he'd just said that out loud.

A smile crept up on both of hedgehogs faces as they laughed at his bashfulness, their cries of amusement echoing in the quiet evening jungle.

"S-s-sonic! You're still such a doofus." Amy sputtered as she attempted to regain her composure.

"I may still be a doofus, but I just got to kiss you. A feat unaccomplished by any other...wait, it _is_ unaccomplished by any other..._right?_" A look of helplessness crossed the navy hedgehogs face but vanished as quickly as it came and his laughs ceased.

Amy beamed widely at Sonic as she suppressed the urge to giggle as he nervously waited for an answer. She could have some fun with this.

"Sonic the Hedgehog...I do _not_ kiss and tell!" Amy stated smugly, anticipating the blue hedgehogs reaction.

Sonic's jaw fell open, and he could've sworn he'd felt it hit the ground. "B-b-but..."He stuttered.

"But what Sonic...spit it out!" Amy bit her lip as the urge to laugh at the sight of the uneasy prince grew.

"I-I I thought..." Sonic closed his eyes so he could concentrate on his words without any distractions. "Please tell me it wasn't Knuckles..." Sonic said in a defeated tone.

A sweet melodic giggle filled his ears and Sonic timidly opened one eye to look at his pink counterpart. "Wait a minute..." he whispered as Amy doubled over laughing, clutching her knees for support.

Something clicked in the Mobians mind and he suddenly felt very naive. He mentally kicked himself for falling for Amy's joke, that girl had gotten a lot more cunning since their childhood days.

An idea flittered through his mind and Sonic grinned, it was time to get his own back.

"Actually..." Amy looked up expectantly at him, a few giggles escaping her pursed lips despite her efforts to keep them contained.

"Knuckles is way too classy for you – and no doubt taken by a certain bat..."

Amy narrowed her eyes at him as she tried to figure out just what the hedgehog was up to.

"...you probably kissed some second-rate robot."

Amy's eyes widened as she glared at Sonic and aimed a punch on his arm. He decided to let her have it and didn't dodge, instead stating "Don't take it out on me; it's not my fault that your first kiss was a washout."

"My first kiss was not a washout!"Amy shouted angrily, she knew Sonic was teasing her but still couldn't help being offended. Sonic held up his hands in defeat and admired how she even looked pretty when fuming.

"It was actually really romantic...and the guy was not a second-rate robot. He was actually really handsome and mysterious." Amy said, losing herself a little towards the end.

Sonic felt touched but couldn't help but tease her a little longer. "Wow, I've never heard anyone call their pillow a guy, let alone handsome and mysterious." Sonic mused lightly, seconds before he dodged Amy's second punch, chuckling to himself as he did so.

"Sonic the hedgehog, you're such a childish, immature, juvenile...foolish, tactless, insensitive... " Amy struggled to think of more words to insult him but decided on an angry huff instead.

During her rant she'd lost sight of the cause of her anger, Sonic had been running around her so fast she'd given up tracking him.

"If I could see where you were right now I swear on Mobius I would take my hammer and pound you into oblivion!"

A flash of blue zoomed to Amy's left and she turned as fast as she could, but Sonic had already run off.

Before she could react, a hand wound its way around her waist from behind, trapping her arms against her body. Sonic's face popped up on her shoulder and she turned to face him with the angriest look she could muster.

Sonic leaned in closer to her, making sure she couldn't move her arms to attack him, and kissed her softly. "Amy Rose, I may be all of the words you said earlier, but I'm also your first kiss." Sonic stated, a hint of pride in his voice.

Amy felt her cheeks flare up and looked away, struggling to release herself from Sonic's vice like grip. Sonic loosened his grip and she slipped out easily, turning back to look at him. He took a step back and put his hands up in surrender for the second time that evening.

"Okay, you can hit me all you like now...although I would prefer it if you didn't use your hammer. That thing still gives me nightmares." Sonic gave a pretend shudder and earned a small smile from the pink hedgehog, her cheeks still holding a light red glow.

Amy walked towards him, raising an arm as she did so. Sonic closed his eyes as he waited for the impact of the punch, but it never came. Instead he felt two arms snake around his neck and muzzle rest itself on his chest.

Sonic stood dumbstruck for a few seconds before his own arms cradled the pink hedgehog in a hug and pulled her closer to him. Sonic ran his fingers through Amy's soft quills before whispering 'I missed you Rosy...'

He felt he mutter something into his chest, and could only guess at what she'd said. After what felt like an eternity, both hedgehogs pulled apart and sat down next to each other on the ground again, this time away from the water.

"You know what; tomorrow I'll show you the crystal cave. When it's lit up it's like a million rainbows in one room. Trust me, you'll love it!" Sonic said excitedly, pointing in the direction of the cave.

"Sonic, I'd love to but I can't. I have to get back to Mobius as soon as possible; we have to help the freedom fighters."She said energetically, her hand clenching in passion.

"What do you mean help the freedom fighters? Is Uncle Eggy not a good king?" Sonic stated, a look of confusion plastered on his boyish features.

"'Uncle Eggy' is a tyrant whose only goal is to add to his wealth, improve his robot army strength and make sure the people are too weak to revolt against him." Amy stated hotly, her anger bubbling up inside of her at the thought of the way the current King was mistreating his subjects.

"He's the King; maybe you should try negotiating with him?" Sonic reasoned, surely they could settle things without fighting.

"You're kidding me right. We need _**you**_ Sonic. We need the true King of Mobius to come back and help save us and our kingdom." Amy stated, her finger drawing circles in the dirt.

"But what am I going to do? If his armies as strong as you say, there is nothing I can do to help. Have you contacted the other Kingdoms?"

"We have three other messengers, out to get help from other Kingdoms; we all left for a point of the compass." Amy explained. "I was on my way back from Sol, and thought I'd cut through the forest when I found you. You have to come back with me Sonic." She pleaded, trapping the dirt in her fist.

"I can't go back..." Sonic whispered softly avoiding eye contact, the words barely reached the pink hedgehogs ears.

"You have to Sonic. You're the heir to the throne, not Egghead. People's lives depend on your return, without you, we have next to no hope of beating Eggman." Amy argued, her bangs falling in around her face as she spoke.

Sonic lifted his hand to push her quills back for her but Amy grabbed it before he could succeed. Sonic closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

'How can I explain to her that I can't go back, not now...not ever!'

"Amy, please listen to me. I can't go back." He said calmly, his eyes focused on her determined forest gaze.

"Why not? Don't you care about your people?" Amy asked heatedly, pulling her hand from the prince's grip.

"I do care about them... but I just can't go back to Mobius okay." Sonic said his tone dropping.

"You're the King of Mobius, without you what hope do we have? If you come back, Eggman will be forced to step down from the throne." Amy pleaded, standing up and dragging the blue hedgehog up with her.

"For the last time Amy, I'm _**NOT**_ the King of Mobius." Sonic shouted irritably, why couldn't she understand?

'Because she doesn't know the truth...'

Amy looked taken aback for a moment but quickly regained her previous stance. "You know what..." she stated calmly. "...you're right. You're not the King. The real King wouldn't think twice about returning to his kingdom" Despite her calm response, Sonic could feel the spiteful sting of her words as she turned away and walked away from him.

"Amy, wait." He called out as she walked towards the thick jungle bushes. She stopped, but only to say one last thing to the hedgehog.

"I'm going home to save my friends and our kingdom. We needed a King, but all I found was a coward who's only a king in name, not actions. Goodbye Sonic the hedgehog. Enjoy your life."

And with that, Amy ran into the thick jungle, leaving behind a speechless Sonic who was left gazing at the spot she had vanished. He wanted to go after her and show her that he could save the Mobians, yet he couldn't bring himself to move his feet.

...xxx...

"Sonic!" Silver shouted as he trudged through the thick greenery, Big the cat never too far behind him. "Where are you?"

Still no reply...

It had been nearly two hours since he'd seen the pink hedgehog leave the forest, and he had a small inkling she was crying but was too far away for him to be sure. Whatever happened between them, Sonic should have been back at their so called 'base' by now.

"Big, got any other ideas?" Silver asked as the cat emerged from the brambles behind him, his arms loaded with fruits he'd gathered along the way for supper.

"Fly and look?" Big suggested, as he offered Silver a sweet looking peach. Silver accepted and thanked him, for both the peach and the idea.

Before Big could acknowledge his thanks, Silver was already up in the air, his body surrounded by a teal hue. His golden eyes scanned the forest close to him before he moved further in to search.

Big decided to sit down and wait for Silver to return. He dropped the spoils in front of him carefully and began sorting them into four piles. One for each of the trio and the fourth serving as a food reserve in case they couldn't find any the next day or were too lazy to get up and look for some.

He'd almost finished when Silver floated down in front of him effortlessly. Any other person would have screamed in alarm at his soundless arrival, even Sonic would have jumped, yet after years of it Big had become accustomed to Silver's odd quirks.

"Have you found him?" Big asked, his voice laced with concern for the blue hedgehog.

"Yep, come on. He's by the lake." Silver relayed. "Don't worry about that, I got it covered." He said as the fruit suddenly started glowing a light blue and began to float off the ground. Big gave him an appreciative nod and headed off towards the lake.

Silver followed taking a bite out of his peach, occasionally looking back to make sure he was guiding their food away from the trees.

...xxx...

How...

How could everything have gone from so perfect to so bad in the space of just a few minutes? Uncle Eggman and his mother were siblings, how could their morals be so different? How did he let the girl of his dreams slip through his fingers a second time?

These were just a few of the million questions zipping around his mind as he stared blankly at the evening sky. The fluffy clouds rolled by as he lay there, doing nothing but thinking and breathing.

He'd seen Silver float by earlier but Sonic paid no attention to him. He was pretty sure he could hear his friends calling for him a while back but wanting to be alone for as long as he could, he didn't reply.

A lone bird flittered across his view as it headed home for the evening.

'Home...there's nowhere in the world I can call that...' Sonic thought with a pang of regret.

Sure the jungle was nice and he had a small family, but he couldn't live here forever. Sonic was pretty sure Silver and Big felt the same way but were either too stubborn or naive to admit it to one another.

The hedgehog winced as he was bombarded with nostalgic memories from his childhood. The way he and Tails would plan and pull pranks on the guards, tease Knuckles for being so hot headed. The way his mother would tuck him into bed and read him a fairytale, and Uncle Chuck would sneak in later to wake him so they could play a quick game of cards...

"I want to go home..." Sonic whispered as he shut his eyes and listened to the calm evening jungle. The soft twitter of birds, the sharp chirping of crickets, the calm rush of the water...the rustling of the leaves?

Sonic opened his eyes and lifted himself to his feet, his ears pricking up as he tried to determine where the rustling was coming from. Spinning around, Sonic couldn't help but be slightly disappointed as the figures of Big and Silver came into view.

He visibly relaxed and slumped back on to the ground.

"Get up Sonic!" He heard Big shout. When Sonic remained on the floor Big poked him with his foot.

"Ow, Big that hurt." Sonic complained as he sat up, rubbing his side as he did so.

"Yeah, but it got you up." Big chuckled, Silver gave him a fist punch as he laughed at the Sonic.

"Sonic, look at you, you're in such a sorry state." Silver sniggered, "Have you been moping around here ever since your girlfriend left?"

Sonic glared at him and slumped back onto the floor with a mutter of 'I'm not hungry.'

"Okay hedgehog. Looks like it's just us tonight Big. Sonic's been dumped and needs some alone time." Silver joked, taking a seat next to where he'd left the fruit.

Sonic picked up the nearest stone and sent it flying in the direction of Silvers voice but missed by a mile.

"Cranky...come on Sonic. It's not like you're in love with her or anything so get over yourself."

He was met with a stony silence.

"You're in love with her aren't you?" Silver questioned, already knowing the answer. "Looks like I win the bet Big. That's two peacock feathers, an extra mango and a shiny stone you owe me."

Big grudgingly took the contents out of his side bag and handed them over to a beaming sterling hedgehog.

"That was a stupid bet." Sonic mumbled. Getting off the ground, the azure hedgehog dusted himself down before hoisting himself up onto a low hanging tree branch. Slinging one leg carelessly over the other and resting his head on his arms Sonic shouted goodnight to his buddies before shutting his eyelids.

Sonic tried his hardest to keep his mind blank of any deep thoughts and was out cold in less than fifteen minutes.

"He's gonna go in the morning isn't he." Big said, it had been nearly an hour since Sonic had gone to bed and the cat was troubled that Sonic was still upset.

They had started a small fire and Silver was sat prodding it with a long stick to pass the time.

"Probably...but I have an idea. Come on, help me find some vines." Silver said deviously, if that hedgehog was going to go anywhere, they would know about it.

...xxx...

Black.

That was all Sonic could see; black empty nothingness. It wasn't the fact that it was dark that scared him, it was the fact that it meant he was effectively blind.

It was in this blinded state that he'd first heard it. A scream...his mother's final scream of agony. He couldn't see her or her attacker and therefore could do nothing, leaving the hedgehog feeling helpless and alone. During the day he'd make himself busy and forget everything, but at night it always came back to haunt him.

Yet this time it was different. It was quiet...almost calm. There was no scream...

Sonic stood confused for a while, turning around slowly. Yet whichever way he looked, he couldn't be sure where he was or how far the darkness continued. A few turns later, a soft beacon of light appeared in the distance and Sonic was instantly drawn towards it. He'd never seen anything here before... let alone something that looked relatively friendly. Even if it wasn't, at least he'd be able to see _something._

His feet moved towards it of their own accord and Sonic did nothing to stop them. He drew nearer and nearer towards the light and a soft silhouetted figure became visible in the light.

Sonic's breath nearly stopped as he recognised the familiar shape,

"Mum..." He breathed as he broke into a run. His feet pounded against the texture less ground. Yet the nearer he got the more colours he could make out in his surroundings, and he was sure he could hear the familiar sound of crunching grass as he ran faster.

The darkness that had shrouded his view lifted away like mist to reveal a grassy cliff top. Sonic thought he could hear the rush of water close by but waved it off, he was too engrossed in the figure stood towards the edge of the cliff to care about anything else.

Sonic slowed down to a walk as he neared his mother, stopping a metre away from her, his emerald green eyes huge with awe.

He scanned her over, cautious of approaching her. What if this was just his guilty conscience' new way of torturing him. To have his mother in his sight, in his reach before having her cruelly taken away from him a second time.

As if reading his mind, Aleena spoke. "It's okay Sonic. It really is me." She sent a warm smile in his direction and held out her arms for her son.

This seemed to be enough for Sonic as ran into her arms; an oddly familiar warmth engulfed his body as his mother ran his fingers through his slightly overgrown quills and Sonic was reminded of his childhood once again.

"You've grown into a very handsome young hedgehog." She acknowledged as Sonic finally let go of her and gave her the chance to look at him properly.

"How are...you...you died?" He stated questioningly, the raw emotion in his tone shocked Aleena and she slowly dropped to her knees, the young prince following suit.

"I still am Sonic. Before you ask, this is a onetime visit. I can't ever come again... I was allowed one time to speak to you about everything I never got the chance to, and I choose now to be that time."

Sonic nodded in understanding and he listened closely as his mother began to explain things to him.

"In my lifetime, I never suspected Eggman would ever become king, I was sure that when I died or was killed, Chuck would guide you to become the best king Mobius had ever seen." Aleena affectionately flicked Sonic's quills as she continued.

"So I was complacent that Mobius would end up in safe hands. I never dreamed it would come to the state is has today. I knew Eggman wasn't completely innocent, but I didn't know that he held a hatred so strong... that was a mistake on my part and I'm sorry for that my son." Aleena said softly, her striking lilac eyes watering as she recognized just how much her son had suffered because of her own disregard of the truth.

He'd lost his father, his mother, his family, his friends, his home...his whole life.

"No, don't...don't cry." Sonic said, slightly puzzled as to why his mother was crying. "It's my fault, not yours. I was the one who couldn't protect..."

Sonic was cut off as his mother softly pressed a finger to his lips shaking her head. "It's not your job to protect me Sonic, don't talk like that again. I can't tell you what happened that day, that's something you'll have to figure out yourself. Just know that people aren't always the way they seem...Eggman is not to be trusted."

"But why, he wasn't even there, he told me everything?" Sonic asked as his mother's lavender eyes turned away from him to the slowly sinking sun in the horizon. He saw the oranges and pinks reflected in them before they returned their focus to him.

"No Sonic. Not everything. But you can't find out what really happened unless you return home. Mobius needs you my son, only you can end the tyrannous rule of Eggman. Only you can bring peace back to your kingdom."

Aleena stood up gracefully, as a sudden wind made her robes billow out around her, swirling about her petite figure. Sonic lifted himself to his feet and stood in front of her, knowing but dreading her next words.

"Looks like my time here is up." Aleena said sadly as she watched a look of helplessness appear on Sonic's face. She drew near him and placed a soft kiss on his forehead, despite her wishes, she had to leave. He had to protect his kingdom after all.

"I love you Sonic." She said as she began to walk backwards, an aura of light appeared to surround her as she drew further and further away.

"Remember who you are Sonic...remember -" The rest of her words were cut off by the crashing winds that followed the light and Aleena was engulfed in a bright frenzy of dancing lights.

Sonic shielded his eyes from the dazzling radiance and when it died down, he found himself on the same cliff top, with only the sound of the crashing tide below to accompany him.

...xxx...

Thanks for reading and drop me a review to let me know what you think of the story so far ;) Chao


	8. Return of the King

It's finally done! *phew* I honestly can't apologise enough; I just wasn't feeling this story for a long time. I will definitely finish it though, there's no way I'm leaving it unfinished. Thank you to everyone who reads my work – you guys are the best motivation I could have.

I also want to apologise for misspelling Aleena's name as Elena in the last chapter – I've fixed it now. Thanks to Matti for pointing that out to me. I honestly don't know where my head was at the time.

Thanks to XoxoSonamy4440ox, Guest, SonamyLovah, TistraNoel1229. Scourge's number one stalker, Guest (2), Matti, Guest (3), MysteriousGirl and DW611 for reviewing ^_^ Appreciated.

Return of the King

_"Remember who you are Sonic...remember -" The rest of her words were cut off by the crashing winds that followed the light and Aleena was engulfed in a bright frenzy of dancing lights._

_Sonic shielded his eyes from the dazzling radiance and when it died down, he found himself on the same cliff top, with only the sound of the crashing tide below to accompany him._

...xxx...

The sound of cawing filled Sonic's ears as he sleepily opened his green eyes to the bright morning. He watched as a few little birds flew overhead, his eyes following their graceful movements.

It took a moment for him to recall his dream, but when he did all the visions flooded his mind all at once. A look of awe spread across his face as slowly his blurry visions cleared. His mother. The state of Mobius. Not trusting Eggman.

'What was so important that she couldn't tell me herself' he pondered as another brightly coloured bird whizzed past his face.

'I have to go back and find out ... if not for myself, then for my mother, my friends, and all the people who need my help. If Eggman was lying, I have to find out what _really_ happened that day. ' He thought determinedly.

Sonic was about to do his usual morning stretch when he realised that his hand was stuck. 'Huh?' he thought, the look of determination quickly transformed into one of utter confusion. He glanced down at his wrist and saw a thick green vine wrapped around his wrist, tying him to the tree. As he examined closer, he realised that his whole body was tied from the waist.

"What in the name of Mobius?" he exclaimed as he struggled to free himself. The thick rope-like vines were tied too tightly for him and he was unable to squeeze out. After a few more minutes of trying, Sonic finally gave up and looked around for Silver and Big. 'I'm gonna kill those two for this...'

"BIG! SILVER!" He shouted loudly. He heard a rustle from behind him, shortly followed by a sleepy voice.

"Dude, we're right here. There's no need to shout..." Silver mumbled as he rubbed the sleep out of his golden eyes.

"Do you wanna explain to me why I'm tied to a tree?" Sonic asked impatiently.

"Oh yeah, that!" Silver said sheepishly before standing up and walking around the tree trunk to face the blue hedgehog. He signalled to the vines, "That was to stop you from leaving."

"Whatever. Just get me out. I can feel my legs dying from being motionless for too long." He complained.

Silver picked up a sharp edged rock and began to carefully cut through the thick green vines. Soon enough the blue hedgehog was on the ground and zipping around the clearing gradually get faster and faster.

"How that doesn't make you dizzy, I'll never know." Silver stated as he walked over to Big to wake him up. Sonic, however, beat him to it and proceeded to circle the sleeping cat. Sonic's speed caused a soft buzzing which got louder and louder.

Once it reached a certain pitch, the purple cat startled awake, his yellow eyes wide and frantic. He quickly relaxed as he saw Sonic come to a halt in front of him.

"Sonic, you scared me." He said loudly, his deep voice rumbling in the small clearing.

"Got ya up didn't it? Besides, I want answers." Sonic said triumphantly, walking over to Silver.

"To what?" The big cat mumbled as he lifted himself off the floor and plodded over to his two friends.

"If it's about the tree, it was Big's idea." Silver said accusingly, nodding his head towards the striped purple cat.

"Hey! Was not." Big muttered pouting, although the thought of Sonic tied to the branch soon made him chuckle.

"Okay fine, I was the brains behind that operation. But we did it with good intentions." Silver explained.

"Yeah, but why would you wanna keep me here?" Sonic asked, puzzled.

"Keep you here?" Silver said perplexed, "We just wanted to make sure you didn't leave without us. If you're going back to fight this Eggdude, we're gonna help you." Silver assured.

"Really? You'd do that for me, geez guys that's-" Sonic was interrupted by Big's rumbling laughter as he gathered up the cut vines and hung them decoratively on the nearby trees.

"Yeah that's right, laugh away. Never mind the fact that I should be half way to Mobius by now." Silver tried to suppress his own laughter as Sonic glared at the cat jokingly.

"So... What exactly is the plan to bring down this so called uncle of yours?"Silver asked as he took a seat on a low hanging branch.

"Eggman. Wait, how do you know about him?" Sonic asked. As far as he remembered, neither he nor Amy had mentioned his name in front of either Silver or Big.

"We might have accidently spied on you an itsy bit yesterday?" Silver said slowly, scuffing his shoes on the dry ground.

"Silver!" Sonic cried. "That was supposed to be priva-"

"What, it was Big's idea." Silver spluttered as he put his hands up in retreat.

Big turned away from his vine hanging to send a deathly glare in the sterling hedgehogs' direction. "Again Silver?"

"Alright..." Silver said defeated, "It was my idea. But Big's just as much to blame for going along with it." Silver stated defiantly, sending a mischievous grin in the cat's direction.

"I give up with you two!" Sonic proclaimed, as he put his hands up and backed away slowly and turned to leave the clearing.

"Hey, where are you going?" Silver shouted, "We didn't tie you to a tree so you could disappear back to... wherever it is your going, without us!" Both Silver and Big started to follow the cerulean hedgehog as he made his way out the jungle.

"Hurry up slow coaches, you're walking like snails." Sonic shouted back to them as he led the way back to Mobius. Back to his true home.

...xxx...

'_I can't believe I fell for that stupid hedgehog...again'_ Amy mentally cursed herself as she trudged closer to the part of the Mobius border that the rebels had managed to gain control over.

It was a very small portion when compared to the actual size of Mobius, but it gave them hope. Hope that one day they could take back their beautiful kingdom in its entirety, with no Eggman to govern a tyrannous rule over them.

'_What am I supposed to tell Chuck?'_ She thought. _'He needs to know that Sonic is alive...but I don't think he can handle that he abandoned us all. What about the rest of the rebellion? If they know the truth then it'll totally shatter them. They'll lose hope, and that's something we can't afford to lose right now.'_

Amy took the opportunity to curse the blue hedgehog, just as she had done countless times on her trek back to Mobius.

'_Well, this mission was a total bust. First the Angel Islanders can't help, and then our own king refuses to help our cause.' _

Amy crossed the threshold into Mobius and made her way to a building overlooking the main portion of the kingdom and giving a clear view of the castle in the distance. She pushed the wooden door open and climbed onto the roof, hoping to buy some time to decide what to disclose to the nation.

Normally Knuckles was on duty up here at this time, and she was hoping to talk to him about it but when she looked around she found it strangely empty.

'_He's probably gone to get lunch.'_ She thought as she made herself comfortable on top of the guard post.

She looked out at her home and let out a soft sigh, closing her eyes as she did so. She remained that way for a few minutes, just thinking about what to do when her thoughts were interrupted with a light humming coming from behind her.

The pink hedgehog recognised it straight away and jumped up in happiness. "Chuck!" she shouted as she scanned the top of the building for the grey hedgehog.

"Yes?" came the reply. Chuck continued to walk up the stairs, the voice was very familiar but it was too distant for him to place who it belonged to.

He arrived on the roof to find a beaming pink hedgehog standing in front of him. "Amy!" He cried out in joy as he pulled the young girl into a hug. "How are ya sugar?" Chuck asked as he smiled at the girl.

"I'm good Chuck. But the real question is how are _you_?" She asked good-naturedly.

"Honestly, Rose, I've been better. Things have been really rough here lately." He said with a sad smile.

"It'll get better Chuck." Amy reassured. "What are you doing here anyway; I thought this time of the day was usually Knuckles shift. Is he not back yet?" She asked with a worried tone.

"No no, don't worry about him. He's busy with Tails so I said I'd take his shift for him. Knuckles, Rouge and Espio got back from their missions a few days back. We were just waiting on you." He explained, his jet black eyes glittering.

"They're _all_ back." Amy exclaimed. "How did they do?" she asked eagerly.

"Calm down Amy. You've barely just got back. There's a conference later tonight, you'll find out everything you need to then." Chuck replied calmly.

"But Chuck..." Amy complained as she gave the old hedgehog the cutest puppy eyes she could muster.

"Okay fine. I don't know the full details but I'll tell ya all I know." He said as he ruffled her pink quills lightly. "Knuckles has apparently brought back the princess of the Sol Kingdom. I haven't seen her myself, but rumours are rife in the guarding ranks."

'_He isn't head guard for nothing after all_' Amy thought jokingly.

"What about Rouge and Espio?" Amy asked, glad that someone had fared better on their mission than she had.

"Rouge managed to bring back a couple of recruits from the Emerald Coast Kingdom. They couldn't have been more than a dozen, but every little helps right. Espio –"

"He went to Little Planet didn't he?" Amy interrupted.

"Yep, he got about twenty troops. Apparently some of them are trained guards." He stated. "What about you, how did your mission to Angel Island go?" Chuck asked inquisitively.

"Not as well as I'd hoped. They can't spare any troops in the event that Eggman attacks. It's no secret that Eggman's been after the Master Emerald for years now. And with most of the island soldiers still recovering from Eggman's attack last month they can't afford to send the more able ones to Mobius." Amy explained, as Chuck nodded in understanding.

"I totally agree with them. If Eggman gets his hands on the Master Emerald then he'll be close to unstoppable." Chuck assured as he gazed out at Mobius.

"Uh... Chuck..." Amy said slowly, not quite sure if she should tell him about her encounter in the jungle.

"What's up Rose?" Chuck asked worriedly, as Amy continued to stand staring at him in silence.

"Amy?" He shook her shoulder lightly to bring her back from her thoughts. "What's wrong?"

Amy looked at him before taking a deep breath. "I met –"

The pink hedgehog was interrupted by a loud clang and a lot of shouting. "Eggman..." she stated simply. Both Chuck and Amy quickly snapped into action and ran down to the alley below.

"This way." Chuck said as he pulled out a sword from his belt and turned down another alley. Amy followed close behind, her trusty Piko Piko hammer materialising in her hands as she ran.

When they reached the commotion, Chuck and Amy were both faced with a troop of guards, weapons drawn, encircling the robots. Strangely, they weren't attacking, and neither was the robot.

Confused, Chuck moved through the guards to see what was going on. Amy followed slowly and when she saw what the guards had surrounded, her jaw almost dropped in disbelief. She moved further out into the circle, her red hammer dematerialised as she stood there staring.

She heard the troop leader talking behind her too Chuck who didn't seem to notice Amy's surprise.

"Yes sir. We've restrained three people. We've yet to ascertain if they're spies or on our side but we didn't want to risk them escaping before we were certain."

"Do you have their names?" Chuck asked the guard.

"No sir, but there are two hedgehogs and a cat." He replied formally.

"Release them..." Amy said to the guard as she snapped back from the shock.

"But ma'am..." the guard mumbled.

"That's an order officer." Amy stated. The guard nodded to his team and they released their captives.

"Thank you Jerome." Amy said politely. "These are friends of mine." She explained.

The guard nodded in acknowledgement and apologised to the three people. The guard bowed down to Chuck and nodded to Amy before taking his team to continue their rounds.

Chuck stared at the three boys who smiled sheepishly back at him in silence. Silver was the first to break the silence as he cleared his throat and spoke to Amy directly.

"Thanks Amy. Those weapons were kinda putting me on edge." He said thankfully, sending a nod towards the pink hedgehog.

"No problem." She said slightly flustered, "What are you guys doing here anyway?" The question was burning at her insides as she stared at them. She was convinced that Sonic wouldn't turn up, yet here he was right in front of her, with his friends to boot.

"We couldn't let you fight without us" Sonic interjected. The pink hedgehog glanced at him for a second before turning to face Chuck.

"Chuck, lemme introduce you." She grabbed the grey hedgehog by the wrist and dragged him towards the trio. "Guys, this is Chuck the hedgehog. Former King of Mobius, now co-head of the rebellion."

"This is Silver the Hedgehog." Amy stated as she gestured towards him.

"It's nice to meet you sir." Silver said awkwardly as he shook Chuck's hand.

"My pleasure son. Any friend of Amy's is a friend of mine." The older hedgehog beamed widely. "And you are?" he said as he turned to the second person in line.

"Big the Cat... your majesty" Big said as he bowed down to Chuck, just as he had done to his blue friend the day before.

"Thank you but there's really no need for that big." Chuck stated as he shook his hand.

"And last but not least, this is..." Amy didn't finish her sentence as she was suddenly distracted by the shocked look on Chucks face.

"You." He said as he pointed towards the blue hedgehog. "You remind me so much of my nephew." Chuck said, his eyes watering at the memory of Sonic as a child.

Sonic felt a hard lump in his throat and opened his mouth to speak but words failed to leave him. He closed his eyes and tried again.

"U-u-uncle Chuck" Sonic stuttered out. His green eyes desperately searching Chucks deep black ones for any sign of recognition.

Chuck look startled, and then all the pieces started falling together. "Amy?" Chuck looked at the pink hedgehog for confirmation and got a soft nod in reply.

He turned back to the blue hedgehog. "Sonic, my boy. Is that really you?" Chuck reached out and put the palm of his hand against the young cerulean hedgehog's cheek. Could this handsome young hedgehog really be the nephew that fate had so cruelly snatched from him years before?

"I'd recognise those green eyes anywhere...it really is you." Chuck whispered as he pulled him into a hug, tears flowing freely from his eyes.

Amy felt something tug at her eyes but willed it to go away. Big on the other hand starting blubbing silently and it took both the pink and white hedgehog to calm him down.

"Sonic, what happened to you? Where have you been all these years?" Chuck asked excitedly. He'd never truly believed his nephew had died that fateful day. He'd always assumed that Eggman had been hiding him away somewhere.

Sonic and Chuck's little reunion was cut short as their ears were suddenly bombarded with the sound of deep, grouchy singing accompanied by some very heavy footfalls. Sonic looked at his uncle with a knowing look before saying, "Is that who I think it is?"

Before Chuck could reply to his nephew, a big green crocodile came bounding round the corner and into the alley. As soon as he saw Chuck, he stopped singing and cleared his throat before walking up to him.

"Sire, I have news." Vector stated officially, saluting to Chuck and Amy as he did so. "Tonight's meeting has been pushed up; it now starts in half an hour."

"Thanks Vector." Amy replied, "We'll be there." She gave the croc a sweet smile.

"Nice to see you back Miss Amy." Vector said as he sent a wink in her direction.

"Oh, Vector." Chuck said, "Can you please deliver a message for me." Chuck asked politely.

"Sure Sire, anything." Vector replied enthusiastically, pulling out his trusty notepad.

"Tell everyone...that the true king has returned to Mobius." Chuck puts his arm around Sonic's shoulders as he spoke.

"Sure sire." Vector said as scribbled into his book and put it away. He smiled at the group in front of him innocently before the reality of what he'd just heard hit him like a sack of potatoes.

"Wait! That's Sonic!" Vector said as he pointed towards the cerulean hedgehog, his finger shaking from shock. "Holy moly, I thought we'd lost you for good." Vector exclaimed as he crushed the hedgehog in a tight embrace.

"Vector... need to ... breathe..." Sonic choked out as Vector released his grip on him.

"Nice to see you're still a guard and messenger. You were always very thorough at it." Sonic said, rubbing his aching arms as he remembered all the times he'd been caught by the croc.

"Actually, I retired when Eggman took control of the city. I found my true calling and now I run my own intelligence agency. I deliver messages too, but only when no one else is around to take them." Vector stated proudly.

"He's our main man for information on the movements of Eggman." Chuck chimed in. "And he also missed out the fact that he got married some years back."

"Congratulations Vector." Sonic expressed, genuinely happy for his green friend. "Who's the lucky lady?"

Vector's faced turned a deep shade of red as he answered. "Uh, Vanilla. You remember the owner of the ice cream shop right?" Sonic did remember her, and after a brief chat Vector said his goodbyes as he went to deliver his very important message.

"Alright, enough talking. We should be getting to the meeting. Don't want the king to be late for his very first one do we." Amy stated as she led the way to the meeting room. Despite her cool exterior, Sonic was sure he detected a hint of satire in her tone of voice.

He noticed it earlier when she'd smile at everyone but him. In exchange, she'd sent him unfeeling glare. _'Seriously, what's her problem? She wanted me here, and now that I am, she couldn't care less!'_

Sonic continued to ponder over the many reasons she could still be upset with him but something told him that he'd never know the real answer to his question unless it was from her own mouth.

He slowly followed the group, being extra careful to not say anything to enrage the pink hedgehog until he knew just why she was upset. Chuck however was happy beyond words. For the first time in the last twelve years, he finally had a real family again, and this time, he wasn't going to let Eggman take that away from him.

...xxx...

Well, there it is. I hope you guys enjoyed it. You'll get to meet the other characters more in the next chapter and see how they've fared in the twelve years Sonic's been gone. Thank you all for reading, drop a review to lemme know how I did :)

Chao ;)


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